Fading Memories
by Ruffles and Feathers
Summary: There's always a long and short version of every story. The short version of this story: James gets his period, Sirius is stalked by Hogwarts armour and Remus is annoyed. The long version: inside.
1. The Present

**Fading Memories**

**A/N:** My aim is to have a story that has a beginning, a middle, an end and a good story line. A story that people will like. And here's my attempt, enjoy! Also I should mention that our favourite werewolf, grim look-a-like, metamorphamagus and head master are still alive! Woohoo! Most of DH and HBP are ignored.

**Disclaimer**: None of it's mine I'm afraid... cept the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter One: The Present**

Harry Potter was exhausted. The second war, against Voldemort, of the wizarding world was finally over. Voldemort had been defeated just six weeks, two days and nine hours ago, in a spectacular showdown at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The very moment the Dark Lord fell would be forever burnt into his very soul. He had been completely and utterly defeated, and before he died, he was very aware of this, the object of his downfall.

But that was the past, something Harry was trying his hardest to put behind him, and this is his future. This being a dark, dirty, smelly, ghoul ridden house; also known as 12 Grimmauld Place.

All the cleaning that had taken place during his fifth year had been in vain. It had been two years since he, or any other human being, had been in this house, and because of this the darkness had easily taken back the house.

His Godfather may be happy to live in such disgusting conditions, but once discovering how ghastly it had become, Mrs Weasley had become caught up in a cleaning frenzy, ten times worse than last time, completely forgetting her own house and moving the entire family temporarily back in with Sirius. In the end though it was worth every drop, or river, of sweat. Nearly every room had been thoroughly scrubbed and dusted and it was now easy to see the great wealth and impressiveness that was once the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Only one room was left; Sirius' bedroom, and at the current rate it looked like it was going to stay as it is, with Sirius refusing to let anyone clean it, or even enter it.

The sound of laughter waffled up from the kitchen where everyone, the Weasleys, the Lupins, Hermione, Dumbledore and nearly every member of the Order sat around the groaning dinner table, eating the delicious food Mrs Weasley had been kind enough to prepare for everyone. For many it was a special dinner, celebrating their victory in war. War against the house that is.

Harry had decided not to join them, choosing instead to search the house for his Godfather. It soon became a process of elimination, as Harry slowly made his way towards the top floor, searching every room as he went, and finally came to Sirius' room. His Godfathers' room was the last room for him to look in, and also the one room he had never been in.

He knocked on the door gently, a part of him not wanting to disturb the only occupant in the room, and slowly pushed the door open. He saw Sirius' outline immediately, for he was standing in front of the window, the only source of light in the room, gazing down into the street below.

Over the past few days Sirius had become moody and withdrawn, like he had been during the war, a stark contrast to the happy, almost youthful man who had been their companion over the last few weeks. The past eighteen years had taken their toll on Sirius, but he now had a chance to get his life back, having cleared his name of all wrongdoing just last week. His face and frame had slowly become fuller and healthier looking, even retaining a glow of happiness, and whilst the dead look in his eyes was not completely gone, it had become dulled and less noticeable.

Harry cleared his throat, beginning to feel nervous for no reason in particular, but Sirius made no motion to show he noticed Harry in any way.

"Sirius," he said, clearing his throat again.

Sirius did not move for a second, the he turned his head slowly towards the door.

"Yes, Harry?" He had carefully made his face blank, showing no emotion, but not before Harry glimpsed some emotion, one he had never seen in his Godfathers' eyes before.

Realising he had been standing there staring at Sirius for over five minutes now, Harry laughed self-consciously.

"I wanted to see that you were okay and to tell you dinner was ready."

Sirius looked at him for a second then nodded.

"I know," he stated simply, and turned back to the window.

In that moment Harry decided to find out what was wrong with his Godfather and try to help him through it. It was the least he could do after everything Sirius had done for him over the years. In an act of boldness Harry strove over to what he assumed was Sirius' bed and sat down, feeling triumphant for no apparent reason. He took a quick moment to look around the room, noticing the posters on the walls, alongside the Griffindor banners. A broken wardrobe stood in one corner of the room, and the ground was littered with a number of newspaper and magazine clippings.

This time Sirius turned his body fully from the window and stared at Harry with his eyebrows raised, slipping a piece of paper into his pocket as he moved.

"Yes, Harry?" He said again.

"I came here for two reasons. The first to tell you dinner was ready, the second to find out what was wrong. So… what's wrong?" Harry blurted everything out in the only was a teenager was able to, and it took Sirius a moment to process what he had said.

"I'm perfectly fine Harry," Sirius said. "Why don't you go have your dinner before everything goes cold, or everybody eats it?"

Harry felt a flash of annoyance directed at Sirius. He could not remember any one ever being so difficult. It was obvious something was wrong.

"No!" Harry snapped. "Sirius, I'm not blind. It's obvious something is wrong, and I'm not leaving until you tell me."

Sirius sighed and for a moment the same unknown look Harry had seen before came into his eyes, but this time he recognised part of it. It was sadness. But a different sadness that Harry had come to know whenever James or Lily was mentioned.

"I think I am hungry after all," Sirius said, obviously avoiding the questions. "I'm going to head down and grab something before it's all gone."

Without another word Sirius walked out the room, the sound of his feet fading as he descended to the lower levels.

Harry did not move for a moment, his eyes trained on the small piece of paper that had fluttered to the floor as Sirius had left, the same piece that his Godfather had stuffed into his pocket, not wanting Harry to see.

Harry bent down to pick it up, and on closer inspection found out it was a picture, and judging from the fact that no body in the picture moved, it had obviously been taken by a Muggle camera. The picture had six people in it. Harry immediately recognised five of the occupants, as they all made silly faces at the camera, but the sixth person was unknown to him. His parents stood in the middle of the picture, with their arms around each other, whilst a tired looking Remus stood on their left, overshadowing the short frame of Peter Pettigrew, who was half cut out of the photo, his portly size not allowing him to be shown fully. Sirius stood on the left hand side of the photo, his arms around the sixth, unknown, occupant, both of them sticking their tongues out at the camera, while laughing at the same time.

Harry frowned as he studied the photograph. He did not know a lot about what went on whilst his parents and their friends were at school, but he had never heard anyone mention anyone fitting the description of the sixth occupant of the photo.

She was short, barely reaching Sirius' shoulder. That was the first thing that Harry noticed about her, other than the fact that she was female. She had straight, soft looking, dark brown hair that reached almost to her waist, dark green eyes, not unlike his mothers and she wore the traditional Griffindor robes

A sudden shout of laughter released Harry from his observations of the photo and he quickly stuffed it into his pocked, instinct telling him that this picture had something to do with Sirius' mood. Taking one last look around the room he left, realising as he did that he was a lot hungrier that he had first thought.

-----

It took Harry another week to corner Sirius somewhere, to ask him about the photograph. Of course he did not tell Sirius he wanted to talk about that in particular, for he knew that unless he had Sirius firmly bolted to the ground he would find that he had no Sirius and no photo.

Every time Harry did manage to corner his Godfather he always felt that there was something more important he had to do, and it took him another three days of wondering why he hadn't talked to his Godfather to realise that he had been tricked. Sirius, after been cleared of all crimes he had 'supposably' committed, had been given another wand. At first Sirius had moaned constantly about how it didn't feel right, that his other one was better, and how much he missed is other one, but he eventually quietened down and since then used his wand almost constantly. Sometimes Harry thought that it was like he was trying to make up for the past eighteen years of being without a wand. Eventually though, it dawned on Harry, after the fifty-seventh time of attempting to talk to Sirius, remembering something more important to do, and then not finding anything, that Sirius was obviously using a spell to keep Harry away from him.

_Smart, _Harry thought, _but I'm not The-Boy-Who-Conquered-the-Darkest-Most-Evilist-Lord-of-This-Era-or-Possibly-For-All-of-Time-Excluding-Grindewald for nothing. Which reminds me, must find out who makes these names up, they seem to keep getting longer and longer._

Harry also began to curse the amount of people that you can fit into one house. It was nigh impossible to get a room to yourself, and if you did manage to it didn't stay that way for long. Whenever Harry did manage to get a room to himself _and _corner his Godfather _somebody _always wandered in soon after.

It was only a matter of time before Harry decided to use those smarts, those smarts being Hermione that is. All it took was the amount of time it took to track down Hermione, pick her brains for all the information she had on blocking spells that made you forget what it was you were doing and begin the search again for Sirius.

-----

Friday came and went and it wasn't until Saturday night that Harry, armed with his new spell that helped him keep his mission in clear focus, cornered Sirius in the Library. He had kept to his room mostly, with the door locked, or well populated areas of the house, until Mrs Weasley forced her way into his room and it was given a thorough clean. Since then there had been no place for him to hide. Harry was mildly surprised that his Godfather did not just leave the house and hide somewhere in the city, until Mr Weasley told him that Sirius had received the same warning Harry had, that with the amount of Death Eaters yet to be caught, it would be highly irresponsible for them to parade their way through town.

To be on the safe side, Harry also bolted the door manually and locked it using his wand.

"There's no need to do that," Sirius said, keeping his gaze steadily on the flames flickering in the grate. "I'm not going anywhere."

Harry looked at him until his Godfather turned his gaze away from the flames and onto Harry.

"I was hoping that maybe we can arrange a swap. You give me that photograph back, and I tell you who she is."

Harry looked at him, hoping his face was blank, not giving away the guilty feeling he had for keeping the photograph for so long. Harry could not deny that he had been almost obsessing over the stranger in the photo. He would look at it every night before he went to bed, thinking of all the reasons that she would be there, and each night he came to the same conclusion; she was the cause of the strange sadness in Sirius' eyes. There was no other explanation. He knew his Godfather had had girlfriends throughout his time at Hogwarts, it was almost expected really, but he had not seen them in any photo or heard anything about them.

"I…" Harry trailed off, and the corner of Sirius' lips twitched.

"Don't bother to deny it Harry. Now, would you like me to answer any of your questions? I know you've been dying to ask them."

Harry felt a heavy blush grace his cheeks and ears.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that," he said in answer to Sirius' question, handing over the photo before sitting in the chair opposite his Godfather.

Sirius gazed at the photograph for so long Harry began to fiddle uncomfortably, wanting him to hurry up and get on with it.

"How many people have you told about this?" Sirius asked, not taking his eyes from the photo.

"No one," Harry replied quickly.

"Good…" Sirius said softly, his voice trailing off.

He paused for a beat before continuing,

"Her name is Amalia. She was a muggleborn, in the same year as me, and the same house. She was your mothers' best friend, but I did not notice her until our sixth year. She was… funny, smart, brave, everything."

Harry had to interrupt then.

"Wait. No one's ever told me my mother had a best friend."

Sirius looked at him steadily for a moment. "It's a… sore… subject for all of us. Remus and me that is, and your parents when they were here."

"So Remus knows her? I mean, he knows her well?"

"Yes, Remus was the first to know her out of the four of us."

Harry frowned. It still did not explain why no one had ever told him about her.

"Was she at my parents wedding?" Harry asked.

"Yes, she was the one taking the photo's that day."

Harry nodded absentmindedly. That explained a lot. He had checked every photo he had of his parents and their friends but had not seen her anywhere.

"She was the one to take the photos. This photo here is one of the few that had her in it."

Harry cleared his throat. "Was she your girlfriend? Were you serious about her?"

"I was very serious about her," Sirius said gravely. "She's my wife."

Harry's head jerked in shock, and he stared at his Godfather.

"Whaaa…?"

"We were married just after school finished, before your parents."

Harry could not get his head wrapped around this new piece of information, and Sirius seemed to understand.

"How about I start at the start?" He asked.

The sound of someone knocking on the door startled them both. Without bothering to wait for an answer the door unlocked, the bolt slid back and the door swung open. Hermione and Ron stood on the other side, Hermione standing with her wand out, obviously the one to unlock the door. Remus stood just behind them, wearing a slightly grim smile.

They came in silently and sat down on the chairs surrounding Sirius. Remus' eyes locked onto the photo and the same sadness that had been in Sirius' eyes over the past two months were reflected there.

"So, you're going to tell them then?" He asked Sirius.

"Well the plan had been to tell only Harry, but I suppose he would tell them anyway after."

Hermione and Ron flushed guiltily. "Harry forgot the _Silencing _charm, we could hear everything clearly on the other side," Hermione explained quickly.

"Well, let's begin shall we?"

-----


	2. Unwelcome Guests

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of this… except Amalia and the plot!

**Chapter Two: Unwelcome Guests**

_Amalia's POV_

The shrill whistle of the train as it began to pull away from the station yanked me momentarily from my thoughts. I could hear the faint voices from surrounding compartments of hundreds of teenagers, squished onto a train that was intent on taking us all back to school, or hell, depending on your point of view.

Soon enough the constant _chug-chug _of the train as it rolled through the mountain side pushed me back into my previous musings, my unfocused gaze directed out the window, towards the sweeping plains rushing past the window.

Lily was off, doing all her important Prefect duties, leaving me on my own once again. Every time she talks about it I try to listen, I swear I do, but the truth is I don't particularly care and towards the end all I hear is _yadda yadda yadda_. I wasn't even sure this was her first or second year as a Prefect. All the years have sort of blended together into one big blur.

_Damn, I sound like a great friend,_ I thought, making a small vow then and there to put some effort into being cheerful. This was sixth year after all.

I reflected back to the painful goodbye I'd just had back at the train platform. My only brother had been nice enough to take the morning off from his new job to drop me at the train station, though admittedly he got me here a tad too early. Being here that early was only good for two reasons. The first is you're early enough to beat the rush and the second is that you can grab a good compartment.

I tried not to think about the goodbye, but it was in my nature to analyse these things. It had been a rough summer holidays, what with the parents splitting last year, without a word to me. It seems that they had been arguing for the past year, or so my brother said. They had both already re-married for crying out loud.

_Goes to show what comes of giving twenty two years of your life to someone_, I thought.

I admit I was slightly, okay majorly, bitter. With the re-marriages came extra baggage from each side. Mum had married some banker with five other children all from five different marriages, all under the age of six. The weeks there had been hell. The kids were snotty nosed little shits, Roger appeared to hate my guts, and my own mum seems to have forgotten my entire existence, telling me briefly that she had explained away my absences all year to Roger as a 'distant, cheap, boarding school'. It seems that he doesn't believe in magic, and mum didn't want to ruin her chances with him by telling him about my… 'gift'.

The other half of the new family was just as bad, if not worse. The new wife was a complete and utter cow, and her children twice as bad. They we my age, a boy and a girl, and both seemed to have mastered the ability to look down their noses at me. _Well okay, so they were a good head and shoulders taller than me, which doesn't make it too hard_. Dad was now tied up in providing them as much money and material objects as he could.

It was obvious neither side wanted me, and seeing as though my brother had recently come of age in the Muggle world, I had bunked with him for the last week of the holidays. I don't think either family noticed my absences, and thankfully it hadn't taken long to pack up everything I owned.

The smart side of my mind knew that none of this was my fault, and if they were that unhappy together then maybe it was good that they split, and if their new partners made them happy, then so be it. The other side of my mind said the complete opposite, and one of the brighter thoughts then were that the lot of them could rot in hell for all I cared.

I had yet to tell Lily any of this.

-----

A bark of laughter from outside the compartment door shook me from my analysis of the summer holidays. For a second I had hopes that the owner of the distinct laugh, and his buddies, who were all sure to be with him, would continue part the door. The outlines of four people stopping outside the door told me otherwise.

A strange sense of deja-vu hit me; the same thing had been happening for the past few years, and for a moment I felt like a first year again.

_They are so predictable,_ I thought, _I'm surprised they didn't turn up sooner. Probably off tormenting the new kids._

The door opened with a snap and the 'flipping foursome' stepped inside. I'd heard rumours over the years that they actually called themselves The Marauders. Personally I don't care what they call themselves; I just wish they'd leave me alone.

"Ahhh, if it isn't Lily's little friend", Sirius Black, one of the leaders of the group, said, making himself at home on the seat across from me.

I don't think he even knows my name, even after all these years. I'd made up my mind a while ago, if he doesn't use my name, I won't use his. A little childish, but I don't think he even notices.

I decided to ignore him as best I could, and instead turned to the other three who still stood in the doorway.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" I said sweetly. "Sit down. I've never known you to be polite before."

James Potter, the tall one with glasses, grinned at me, seeming to not notice my sarcasm, and sat down next to Black. Peter Pettigrew, the short… plump… one looked at me blankly for a moment and then practically threw himself into the nearest chair, which just happened to be next to Potter. He continued to start at me, which was slightly un-nerving.

_That boy worries me,_ I thought to myself seriously, _there has got to be something wrong with him._

The last boy out of the lot, Remus Lupin, looked slightly ashamed. Obviously he had been the only one to pick up on my sarcasm.

_Damn right, this _was _my compartment first!_

He smiled at me slightly and sat down next to me.

"Hi Amalia," he said. "How were your holidays?"

I'm slightly surprised he knew my name, but I knew I shouldn't be. He's always been polite to me, so I'll give him the same courtesy. If Potter was going to be anything like the last few years I'd say I'm about to get to know Remus a lot better.

"Mine were great," I said, lying through my teeth. "How were yours?"

"Not too bad, could have been better. I've been stuck with this lot for the most part."

I nodded my acknowledgement. At this I could sympathise, they were really annoying, and I was only around them when they saw fit to bug Lily. I studied him for a moment. He looked awfully tired, but I put that down to staying up too late, and not getting enough sleep. Looking down slightly I noticed the Prefect's badge pinned to his robes.

It occurred to be then that if Remus was here, then obviously Lily should be here any moment.

It was like I'd said the magic word as suddenly the already annoyed face of Lily appeared in the still open doorway.

She paused for a moment, looking around the compartment, taking everything in. Me, sitting quietly in the furthest corner; Black, sitting across from me, still appeared to be grinning at the current situation; Potter, who had jumped up the second she had appeared, his hands ruffling his hair; Peter staring at Lily, actually appeared to be scared of her, and Remus smiling politely and apologetically at her. Her gaze softened for a moment when they came to rest on Remus, a fact noticed by the ever observant Potter.

"Lil…"

That was as far as he got. Her gaze seemed to shoot back to him and the anger increased ten-fold.

"I'm sure one of you can explain to me why you're taking over our compartment." Her voice held the same sweetness mine had held earlier, only this time Potter seemed to pick up on something.

"Wel…"

That was as far as he got before getting cut off again, this time by Black.

"We saw your little friend sitting here all on her lonesome, and decided to keep her company."

This seemed to enrage the already angry Lily, but before she could say anything, Remus cut in with perfect timing. He must have realised that one more word and his friends were heading for an early grave.

"I'm sorry we didn't ask first, Lily, but everywhere else if full."

Lily took a deep breath and sat down on the other side of Remus.

An awkward silence settled in the compartment for a moment, and then Sirius and James began talking quietly. I heard the odd words, 'prank', 'good one' and 'fresh ideas' so I had a pretty good idea what they were discussing. From the look on everyone else's faces they could also hear what was being said.

_Damn, this is going to be one long ride_, I thought, fishing out the new book I'd gotten just the day before and settling down for a good long read.

-----

It was nearly dinner time by the time The Hogwarts Express began to pull into the station, and soon enough I had to slowly make my way through the hordes of other students. Lily had headed off earlier with Remus to help the younger students off the train and to point them all in the right direction, which left me on my own once again.

I really don't know how I manage to drag my heavy trunk through the mobs _and_ my owl cage, but it took me two hands just to drag the trunk. Pepper didn't seem to mind all the jostling. I don't think he was even aware of where we were; he'd been asleep for nearly the entire ride. His cage was attached tightly to the trunk so that I did not have to worry about losing him.

Pepper was my pride and joy. I absolutely loved the darn owl to death, and he knows it, taking complete advantage of it every chance he got. He was a slightly red-brown colour with a number of small white spots on his head, which is why I decided to call him Pepper. He had been a problem for both my parents, explaining to their new spouses why their daughter needed an owl, of all birds. So instead of explaining this, they hid her. Not one of the new family members had seen Pepper, or any of my stuff. I don't think they even knew I existed until I turned up towards the end of the school year.

Stepping off the train, a sudden shove from a younger student nearly sent me head first into the ground. I closed my eyes, waiting the impact that was surely to come, but it didn't.

I opened my eyes slowly to find myself mere inches from the ground, the only thing stopping me from going any further was the set of arms that had suddenly appeared, wrapped around my waist.

I took a deep breath and managed to get my feet under me, and levered myself up, supported only by the mysterious set of arms. I turned towards the stranger, opening my mouth to say thanks, but I didn't get any further.

"My, we are a bit clumsy today aren't we Little One?"

I narrowed my eyes. Of all people to have saved me, it had to be him.

"Thanks, but there was no need," I snapped, beginning to turn away.

"How ever does one so small manage to carry such a big trunk?" He asked no one in particular, ignoring my previous statement. I was shocked when he bent down and lifted up my trunk, with just on hand, and began to walk to the nearest carriage. I followed him, intending to explain that I didn't need any help, but it was too late. I could only watch in dismay as he loaded both my trunk and his own onto the back of the already bulging carriage, pausing for a second to grab my owl cage and his own cage. He stepped back from the open doorway expectantly and looked at me.

"Well, come on. We haven't got all day," he said, a small smile curling his lips.

Something akin to butterflies filled my stomach, which confused me, but it looked like it was about to rain so I wasn't about to turn down the offer of a carriage.

Glaring at him as I walked past, I hopped inside and sat down. Looking around at the other people in here I wasn't too surprised to see the rest of his friends. What did surprise me was seeing Lily squished into one corner, next to James, who looked like Christmas had come early, the complete opposite of how Lily obviously felt.

Sirius jumped in, slamming the door shut, and sat down next to me. I could under stand why he chose to sit there, what with that seat being the only one left, technically. It didn't mean I had to be happy about it. I'm pretty sure the carriages were only designed to fit four people, yet we've managed to fit six people in there and six, very different, pets, so I'm surprised we actually managed it.

Fitting three people per side took a bit of manoeuvring. The four people in the corner seats, Black, Lily, Remus and Peter, each had to angle themselves in such a way that they were instead facing the opposite corner of the carriage instead of facing the person sitting across from them. The two of us in the middle, James and I, had a number of options available to us. We could place our legs over either of the legs of the people on either side of us, we could simply squish ourselves in the middle trying to stay away from the people on either side of us, we could angle ourselves so that we're more or less facing either door of the carriage, or in James' case he simply sat squished in the middle, facing Lily with a silly smile on his face. I personally chose the second option, trying to ignore Black, who I felt was sitting just a tad too close to me.

With a start we were off, heading up the winding drive towards Hogwarts.

-----

The short ride from the station to the school did not take long thankfully. On reaching our destination Remus, Black and I, and our pets were the first to exit the carriage, and not in the most graceful of ways. I had Pepper's cage in one hand and had just put my foot on the first step of the carriage, intending on following Black.

For the second time that day I was thrown off balance as Remus crashed into me with a surprising amount of force. Before I could stop myself I fell into Black, also throwing him off balance, more from the surprise than anything else. The three of us fell to the ground in one big heap, with the cages holding our pets thankfully being thrown clear.

I felt the breath rush out of me from the force of the impact on the ground, and wasn't too amused when I found out I had scored the winning ticket to land between two nearly full grown men. Laughter could be heard from the occupants of the newly arriving carriages, and I felt my face begin to heat up. No matter how skinny Remus looked he still weighed a ton, particularly when landing on someone as small as me.

I felt the pressure ease and disappear from my back, and looking over my shoulder I could see that James had helped Remus up.

"Here," Lily said. I had a faint suspicion she was trying not to laugh.

I looked up at her and saw that she was offering me her hand, obviously to help me up. I took up her offer and she pulled me up off the Black.

"'Bout time," Black growled. "What the hell happened? You trip again?"

It was obvious only to me who he was directing the last question at. I saw Lily out the corner of my eye look at me curiously but I ignored her.

He jumped up and glared at us.

"It wasn't me," I snapped back. "Remus fell into me."

I had a hard time keeping a straight face, the same as everyone around me, with the exception of James who wasn't holding back. Even through my annoyance a bubble of laughter was filling up. The entire front of his robes were covered in mud, not yet dried from the rain earlier that day. I snorted and he turned his glare on me.

"Don't blame me," Remus said calmly. "Someone fell into me."

Potter began laughing, and Peter, for some strange reason, started to fiddle with his wand.

"P… p…" Potter said, laughing so hard he was barely able to breath let alone say something.

"What?" Black snapped, obviously annoyed. "Spit it out already."

"He's trying to tell you that it was Peter who fell into Remus," Lily said.

Black and I both turned our glares on the plump boy, who smiled weakly back at us. He gave a little laugh, but I wasn't about to let him off the hook yet. I could already feel a massive bruise forming on my back from _someone's_ knee.

"Let's get inside, ey? Getting a bit nippy out here…" His voice trailed off.

We both continued to look at him while Remus, Lily and Potter began to get everyone's trunks down from the carriage, Remus picking up his owl cage along the way. Our pets had been looking on indignantly as we had struggled to untangle ourselves after our spectacular swan dives off the carriage.

I checked myself over for bruises or cuts, but found only mud. After making sure I would survive until I reached a shower later that night I turned to get my trunk… and didn't find it. I frowned and looked around frantically, vaguely aware that nearly every other school carriage had emptied and if I didn't hurry I'd be late for the feast.

"Grab my owl for me would ya Little One?" A voice in the distance yelled at me.

I turned to face the entrance of Hogwarts and saw Black disappearing inside, his trunk in one hand, mine in the other.

I frowned as I picked up both owl cages. _Why in the world would he take my trunk? I would have thought he'd enjoy seeing me struggle to get it into school._ I decided to think about it later. At the moment I was much too tired and hungry to make any sense out of it.

-----

**A/N: **I hope you like the story so far. I decided to get ahead after I completed the first chapter and actually managed to finish this last week and I've done chapter three, but I won't post that yet. I've also got a general plot outline done, just so I don't accidentally put myself in a corner with no way out, and I like what I've got! I can't wait to write it all up! Anyway as always R&R!

Cya!


	3. A Hint of Something New

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of this… except Amalia and the plot!

**Chapter Three: A Hint of Something New**

_Sirius' POV_

The traditional first day feast was finally over. On arrival I had been extremely hungry and tired, now though I was just tired. The dinner had seemed to go on forever. I, and nearly everyone around me, could hear my stomach rumbling continually throughout the sorting. This earned me a number of disapproving glares from both Lily and Amalia. They had obviously tried to sit as far away as possible from the four of us, but I think it's safe to say they extremely underestimated James' ability to find Lily, even in such crowded places.

I began to get ready for bed, and thought back on the evening. After dinner had finally finished, the three of us had followed the first years as they were given a brief tour of the castle. Remus and Lily had been given the task of leading the group, since they were the sixth year Prefects. From my position behind them I could clearly hear Lily as she explained to them various facts about a number of the portraits and how best to get around the castle.

"I swear they're getting smaller each year," James muttered.

I laughed loudly at this, startling a number of people around me, but what James said was true. In fact this year's lot were almost as tall as Lily, who, while widely known as the smartest person in the school, was also known for her small stature.

I glanced over at James to see him staring intently at the back of Lily's head. While Lily was known mostly for her smarts, James was known for his 'small' obsession with the petite red head.

"Mate, give it a rest," I told him good naturally. "We're all much too tired to hear any more declarations of love."

He didn't say anything. I wasn't sure if it was just because he had chosen to ignore me or if he was off in his own little world. Something told me it was the latter.

-----

Someone, James, slapped me on the back, interrupting my thoughts.

"Night mate," he grinned at me. I nodded back and slipped into bed.

Normally the four of us stayed up well into the morning, planning pranks and what not, and even on the odd occasion doing homework. Contrary to popular belief I actually did do homework. It doesn't just magically appear each morning, done to perfection. I did it; I just didn't flaunt it or put much thought into it. Why would I need to? I'm one of the smartest students at Hogwarts.

But tonight we were all absolutely exhausted. It's funny how a long train ride and a good meal does that to a person.

Loud snoring from my left told me that Peter had already dropped off, and the faint even breathing coming from the other two beds showed that I was now the only person awake.

As I lay on my bed, I realised that I had a little smile on my face. I paused to think on that. I hadn't had a snog today, hadn't pulled any pranks. In fact I'd barely done anything 'fun'. Shrugging I decided to think about it in the morning, and I closed my eyes, intending to get to sleep.

An image of a blurry figure appeared and I felt a faint nervous flutter in the pit of my stomach. Instinct told me this person was the reason for my happiness, and my nervousness. I finally began to drift off.

Throughout the night the smile stayed on my lips, and I dreamt of the mysterious figure, curious as to who she was.

-----

I woke the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to face the first day of school. Looking over to the window on the other side of the dormitory I saw that the sun had just begun to rise. I thought back on the dreams that I'd had throughout the night. I don't know why but they made me smile.

With a burst of energy I jumped out of bed, wanting everyone else in the room to feel the same emotions I was feeling.

"Come on everyone. Up, up, up! Its morning and we have a bright day ahead of us." Silence greeted me as I stood in the middle of the dormitory, though I was pretty sure I heard a _piss off_ from somewhere in Remus' direction.

Giving up on the grumpy bunch I strode towards the bathroom, with a small jump in my step, neatly avoiding the trunk someone had left near the entry to the bathroom. I did not skip. No matter how happy I may have been, it just isn't manly for a guy to skip. So instead I _strode with a slight jump in my step_.

"What? Are you constipated or something Sirius? Why are you skipping?"

The shock of hearing someone say something nearly caused me to change direction too late, but alas I am quick on my feet and I neatly avoided the bathroom door frame.

_BANG_

… but not so neatly found out how to fly.

I landed on something soft and squishy and sat up quickly, alternating between rubbing my nose and glaring at the object that had caused me to spectacularly fly across the room, landing on Peters bed.

"Who the bloody hell left their trunk in the middle of the room?"

I'd successfully avoided the trunk on the way to the bathroom, but the sudden swerve to avoid door frame and the need to defend my manly honour against the accusation of skipping, had caused me to find out first hand why men cannot fly.

The sound of someone gasping painfully caused brought me back to the present and I realised I was still sitting on Peter, who'd been rudely awoken by my landing on him.

_Well at least that's one less person to wake up later._

"Sorry Pete. This was for yesterday okay?" I didn't bother to wait for an answer.

"Nice one mate," James managed to choke out. "I just don't know what I'd do without you to make me laugh."

I opened my mouth to retaliate, but Remus beat me to it.

"You're both idiots," he said tiredly as he entered the bathroom.

"Hey!" I yelled. "I was there first."

-----

It was still quite early when we headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I was on my own now, as I'd forgotten my wand and had to run back to get it, telling the others to go ahead without me.

I'd reached the second floor when I was a small figure half way down the corridor. For a second I thought it might have been a new first year, lost on their way to breakfast, but as I got closer I saw that I'd been wrong. I grinned as I ran up to the unsuspecting figure.

"Hello Little One," I said cheerfully, knowing that that name bugs her. As I looked at her, something knocked at my subconscious, like I'd forgotten something.

I watched intently as she tensed up and began to walk faster. She seemed to realise she was fighting a losing battle as I easily kept pace with her small strides.

She sighed and finally acknowledged me.

"Good morning, Black," she said.

"Where are you going?" I asked, playing dumb.

"The Great Hall for breakfast, the same as you."

"Well let me escort you the rest of the way."

"No thanks, I'm fine," she snapped at me.

"Really? You seem annoyed," I told her.

"It's funny, you always seem to bring that emotion out in me," she replied.

We reached the stairs that would take us to the Great Hall. I decided to change the subject.

"Any idea what classes you've got?" I asked her.

"Yes."

I looked around. She wasn't helping me very much. I was beginning to run out of things to say.

"Why exactly are you talking to me?" She asked, startling me from my thoughts.

"Well, why wouldn't I?"

"It's not like we've had a conversation before, and we're not friends or anything. In fact I don't think you even know my name," She looked directly at me as we stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

I looked down at her, at a loss as to what to say, and was surprised at just how short she was. I couldn't be sure, but I'd say that she was shorter that Lily, she barely reached my shoulder.

----- -----

_Standing in the doorway of the train, I saw a younger student push past a petite person who had just stepped off the train, throwing her off balance. As she began to fall I saw her close her eyes, waiting for the impact that was surely to come, but over a year of playing Quidditch had honed my instincts to perfection and I was able to catch her before she hit the ground._

_I had caught her just a few inches from the ground, the only thing stopping her from going any further were my arms which I'd wrapped around her small waist._

_I felt her take a deep breath and use my body and arms as support to get her feet under herself. I caught a faint whiff of vanilla from her hair, and her body as she pushed against me was soft and inviting. She turned towards me and I got my smile ready, when I realised just who it was._

"_My, we are a bit clumsy today aren't we Little One?"_

----- -----

I frowned and opened my mouth to answer her, but the words wouldn't come. I decided instead to just get out of there.

Without a word I began to walk away. I could feel her eyes following me as I entered the Great Hall. I stopped when I reached the doorway and turned back to face her.

"Amalia." I said, seeing a flash of surprise in her eyes, and entered the Great Hall.

I didn't like what I felt every time I was around her, and I knew I would have to do something about it.

-----

I have a gift. A gift I share with James and Peter and on the odd occasion Remus. This gift enables me to get to class late no matter how early I start out or how many short cuts I take.

This gift enabled James, Peter, Remus and I to arrive late for our first lesson of the year, Charms.

"Sorry we're late Professor," James said, as the four of us headed for our usual seats at the back of the classroom.

I thought for a moment that we'd gotten away with it, but I was wrong.

"No, boys," Professor Flitwick said before we sat down. "I think we'll try something different this year."

Flitwick looked around for a bit.

"I'm sorry to do this to you girls, but hopefully you will have a better influence on these four."

I saw Remus out the corner of my eye flush and stare down at his feet, obviously embarrassed at the attention we were receiving. The complete opposite of James, who were revelling in the attention.

"Mr. Lupin, if you will sit beside Miss Ashfault; Mr Potter next to Miss Evans and Mr Pettigrew you can have this spare seat next to Mr Snape. Miss Freeman you can have that seat beside Mr Black in the last row there. These people, ladies and gentlemen, will be your partners for the rest of the year."

I froze in the act of sitting down. It was all okay before; I could have handled sitting next to Amalia for the next week or two, but now it seems we were to work together for the rest of the year. I sensed rather than saw her sit down in the seat next to me and begin to get all her stuff out again.

As Professor Flitwick began to discuss the importance of study and NEWT's next year a piece of paper landed on my desk.

'_Not planning on running off again are you?'_

I smiled and wrote back, _'I never run from a challenge'_ and thought to myself _only avoid it_.

-----

**A/N**: I hope everyone is liking this, though I can't know if I don't get any reviews _'hint hint'._ I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on this, and I'm not lying when I say "It makes me happy" because it really does!

In my opinion it's not the best, but I think it'll do. I'm trying to keep the characters as 'in character' as possible, which requires me to think like a guy a bit, which is a bit tricky, but I think I'll manage.

Oh! Almost forgot to mention, the POV will change each chapter, mainly Amalia and Sirius, but I may put the other's in as well, get their thoughts etc.

Thanks to the _three_ people who have reviewed! It means a lot!


	4. Transfiguration

**Fading Memories**

**A/N:** Um I have no idea how many lessons they have in a day, or for how long they go for, so I've had to make that up, sorry. Thanks also to those who reviewed, it meant a lot, and I've tried to fix the problem there! So hopefully it's easier now to tell who's the main character of this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **No siree, I do not own any of this.

-----

**Chapter Four:** Transfiguration

_Amalia's POV_

"Hi guys!" I said as I entered my dormitory. Three of my four roommates were already there and in their pyjamas, getting ready for bed, which is where I'd like to be.

"Hi Amalia," Rose said softly. Rose had the bed next to mine, which is where she sat now, obviously about to snuggle down with one of her romance books.

"Hey," Nikki said, heading for the bathroom, while Rebecca nodded absentmindedly. "Where's Lily?" Nikki asked over her shoulder.

"Another Prefect's meeting," I told her.

Rebecca looked up in surprise.

"Another one? Come on! That's like the…" She paused for a moment to count on her fingers. "… the seventeenth meeting so far this year and it's only, what, fifth week?"

I nodded. "I think they're planning something. Lily's been very secretive all of a sudden."

Rebecca frowned for a moment then shrugged.

"Well guess we'll find out eventually."

"Maybe it's a ball or something," Rose said smiling wistfully. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

I laughed. "It must be big, whatever it is. What with all this planning."

Nikki came back in the room.

"You know I wouldn't be too surprised. We haven't had a ball for a number of years," she pointed out.

"The only good thing about a ball is the buying and wearing of new dresses," Rebecca grinned. "A ball requires a date. Where are we old hag's going to get one of those? There aren't any decent blokes in all of Hogwarts."

Nikki smiled. "Say's the person dating that seventh year, Robert. You won't have to worry about anything, the rest of us on the other hand…"

"Oh, I don't know," I said. "Rose looks awfully close to one Remus Lupin. I don't think she'll have a lot to worry about either."

A heavy blush began to build up on Rose's cheeks. "Oh no, I doubt that. He couldn't like me."

"Yeah right," Rebecca scoffed. "And I suppose he's just being nice?"

"Of course, that's just the way he is," Rose told her, obviously feeling uncomfortable. "What about Nikki? Aren't you seeing that sixth year, from Ravenclaw?"

All eyes turned to Nikki.

"Well…" She smiled. "Not yet, but I'm working on it."

"That leaves just two people," Rebecca said. "Lily, obviously, has James." Everyone snorted at this. Lily will have James when hell freezes over. "And I think I know who Miss Amalia will have." She grinned evilly.

"Who?" I asked blankly.

"Your Charms partner, who else?"

I laughed harshly.

"Black? Yeah right," I smirked. "I'm not even his type."

"Oh? And what's his type?" Rose asked.

"Tall, blonde, skilly, brainless, and willing to put out on the first date. That's his type."

"Yeah, you better keep that in mind, Freeman! You're nowhere near good enough for him."

Our heads snapped towards the doorway to see Margaret Caddleby, a Griffindor fifth year, standing there smirking.

Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"Bugger off, _Maggot_. Why don't you just return to the hole you crawled out of? He's not yours and we all know it."

"He _is_ mine!" Margaret snarled, a hideous look transforming her face, and stormed off.

Absolute silence greeted her abrupt departure and Lily appeared where Margaret had just stood.

"Hi guys! What's up with Maggot? She seemed pissed."

Rebecca began to laugh so hard she fell off her bed.

­­­­­­-----

I sighed and looked over at Lily. She didn't move so I sighed again.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her toast hovering about her mouth.

"I'm just looking over my timetable. I didn't notice this before, but check out my partners for each class."

She looked over at my timetable, which I'd rested on the table, covered in notes I'd made for each class.

She laughed. "Well you're a lucky one aren't you? Sirius for both Charms _and_ Muggle Studies, Remus for Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potter for Potions and Peter for Transfiguration. No one for History of Magic? Or Herbology?"

"Nope, no one for them two, luckily," I said.

She laughed again. "Well you are a lucky one, aren't you?"

I glared at her. "Nah, I'd say you were the lucky one, what with James as your partner for all but three classes."

She stopped laughing and glared back at me. As a silence fell over us Lily cleared her throat.

"We have Transfiguration this morning, better head off."

"What are we doing in class today?" I asked as we left the Great Hall and started down the corridor.

"I'm not sure," Lily said. "I guess we'll be going over the practical side of last weeks theory."

"Brilliant. That's just great," I grumbled. "I just know I'm going to be turned into a headless turkey. Or worse!"

Lily sighed. "I hate to say it, but I think you're right."

We entered the room and I saw Professor McGonagall standing over by one of the windows on the opposite side of the classroom. The room was set out different to how it usually was and it seemed bigger somehow. The desks, normally set out in groups of two or four facing the front of the room, were now set up in groups of two with each desk facing its partner. A good ten feet surrounded each set.

"Ah hell," I muttered.

"Girls," Professor McGonagall greeted us. "Choose a seat for yourself and your partners for today's lesson."

I gritted my teeth and grabbed the set closest to the door, Lily grabbing the one nearest to mine.

Soon enough the rest of the class turned up and we sat in our pairs, waiting for Professor McGonagall to give us our instructions.

"Let me get right to the point. Today we will be practicing last week's theory. For those of you who may have already forgotten," at this point she looked straight at my partner, Peter, "we will be practicing turning our partners into animals, through the use of the spell _Besta Vergo Iam_. For the spell to work properly the caster needs to concentrate solely on the animal they are turning their partner into, visualising the transformation. After the transformation you must not forget that your clothes, unlike with animagi, will not change shape with you, that the wand movement is a particularly important part, and whatever you do _do not flick_. We will be dedicating the whole of today's lesson on this particular practice and for homework I want a twelve inch essay on why or why not your transformation attempts worked, how well they worked and how you can improve. I _do not_ want anyone practicing this outside of class. The classroom is a controlled environment and I can fix any problems we may come across, but outside…"

I looked around at my fellow classmates, and it seemed I wasn't the only person nervous about putting my complete trust in my partner. Lily was glaring at James across the tables, while he smiled blindly back. Remus was smiling gently at Rose and seemed to be explaining something to her. Nikki appeared to be studying the Transfiguration textbook while Rebecca was joking and flirting with her partner and Peter was… wait a second… did he just…? He did! He's picking his nose!

My mouth dropped open in disgust and I looked away quickly, my gaze falling on Black and his partner. My stomach clenched as I took in the sight before me. His partner, a fellow sixth year from Hufflepuff, was smiling silkily across the table at him, playing with her hair while he flirted with her. I narrowed my eyes as I looked over at them.

The urge to rip out her hair and set it on fire suddenly hit me and I clenched my fingers, taking a deep breath.

I turned back to Peter in time to hear the last of Professor McGonagall's instructions.

"I will come around now to tell you which animals you are to try to become and then you may begin. Go over the details of your animal together first to make sure you both know what the other is to look like."

It was not long before Professor McGonagall got to us.

"Okay Mr Pettigrew I would like you to become a possum and Miss Freeman you will become a kitten," she told us and moved onto the next pair.

I looked over at Peter.

"Well…" My voice trailed off. He was doing that fully staring thing again. I cleared my throat. "I think I'm going to regret saying this, but you go first."

He nodded. "O… oh okay. Um, so you're a possum right?"

I gritted my teeth and shook my head, determined to be polite.

"No, you're the possum. I have to be a kitten."

"Oh, okay. That should be easy…" He looked at me uncertainly.

"Look, you know what a kitten looks like right?" He nodded. "Okay, imagine that kitten. Give her, I don't know, black fur and a short tail. Now let's give this a try. You know the wand movement right?"

"Yeah. I've been practicing," he said as he picked up his wand.

This didn't inspire a lot of confidence in me.

The chatter of two dozen students distracted me for a second and I looked around again to see everyone at work, going over the details of their animals. The butterfly feeling returned for a split second as I glanced at Black and his partner, and quickly looked away.

I'd been curious about the butterflies for awhile now, but personally I didn't think they were anything special. There was no way I could, or would, like him or vice versa. I was too plain. He only liked glamorous, pretty girls and…

_Oh shut up!_ I snapped to myself. _Concentrate more on important things, like school, or not ending up like a headless turkey._

I looked up to see Peter wave his wand at me.

"_Besta Vergo Iam_," he said with a small flick of his wand.

_Wait! Flick!?!_

Before I could move or say anything his spell hit me with the force of a speeding truck. I flew backward, chair and all, and hit the wall with a thud.

My entire body was covered in pain. My very bones ached so bad I couldn't even open mouth and scream.

As soon as the pain started though, it was gone, and I was left with a dizzy, disorientated feeling. I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn't obey my commands and a darkness felt like it was pressing down on me.

"You stupid boy," Professor McGonagall shrieked and suddenly the pressing darkness disappeared.

As I looked up at her I never realised just how tall she really was. I mean she had to be at least a couple of feet taller than me. I was surprised I'd never noticed that before.

I tried to stand up but a wobbly feeling took over my legs and I fell back to the ground.

_Must have hit my head,_ I thought. _That would explain my new found lack of balance._

I looked around me and realised that the whole class was staring back at me in shock.

I frowned. Shock? I mean, someone flying into a wall is weird, but this is Hogwarts. I can name a dozen different things I've seen that were weirder.

I looked up at Professor McGonagall for guidance

She sighed and walked over to her desk, picked something up and came back to me, placing the object in front of me.

It didn't hit me for a moment that I was looking at my reflection, only it wasn't me. It was… well I'm not sure. It looked kind of like a kitten, only it had big feet and a long fluffy tail that was almost twice my size. My fur was bright pink with green spots and orange stripes, and I only had one ear.

Anger began to build up inside me as I realised that Peter had royally screwed it up.

"You bastard!" I shrieked, my anger growing when all that came out was a series of hisses.

Everyone looked at me blankly, not understanding what I'd tried to say, so I decided to take drastic measures to show my anger.

I lunged at him… with a surprising amount of speed.

Peter ran as fast as his bulky shape would allow him, sprinting out the nearby door.

"_Grab her!_" Professor McGonagall yelled as I ran out the room after him.

I glanced briefly over my shoulder as I neared the corner to see most of my classmates running after me, their wands out, and Professor McGonagall standing in the classroom doorway, holding my clothes.

-----

I'd lost him.

Actually, I'd lost him a couple of hours ago. On the plus side I'd also gotten rid of my classmates, so I didn't have to worry about getting caught. I'd decided to just turn myself in once I find Pettigrew and show him the meaning of pain.

I wandered around the fifth floor one more time, staying in the shadows. I'd since come to the conclusion that he must have used, or was still using, secret passages, and I didn't know any.

It was also well past dinnertime. I was debating whether or not to test the theory that he'd try to get to his dormitory after possibly having eaten dinner down in the kitchens.

Making a spur of the moment decision I turned tail and headed for the Griffindor common room.

-----

_If there were such things as second lives,_ I decided,_ I _do not_ want to be a cat, or a possum, or a cat-possum._

It had taken me a good forty minutes to figure out a way to get into the common room. The Fat Lady wasn't any help at all, just thought I was some cute stray, and I kept having to duck away whenever someone came or went. Eventually someone held the portrait door open long enough for me to sneak in.

Finding the boys dormitory was easy enough, it was figuring out which was their room that was the tricky part. All the doors were closed and there were no names or signs on any of them. A distinctive bark like laughter from behind one door was the only thing that gave them away.

I headed over to the sixth door down. The door was like all the other doors in the hallway, except for the small scorch mark near the door handle.

I paused for a moment to figure out a way to get in. Hissing or meowing would just give me away. I couldn't scratch the door, I hadn't yet gotten use to my retractable claws and they were a bit of trouble at the moment. Anyway, I didn't want to make them blunt or anything, need them as sharp as possible for when I get Peter.

An idea came to me and I backed away from the door. Crouching slightly I aimed myself towards the door and, with a little wiggle of my butt, pounced. My head connected with the door with a bang and the laughter and talking inside the room stopped.

I held my breath. _Come on! Open the door!_

But after a moment the talking resumed.

I gave a little hiss of annoyance. The plan hadn't worked and I wasn't going to do it again, my head hurts.

"Hello there little kitty," a voice off to my left said. "Are you a lost little kitty?"

I decided to use this to my advantage and weaved my way across the door frame.

"Ahhh," he said. "You're not lost, you've been shut outside. Well why didn't you say?"

I gave a little purr as he came forward and knocked on the door.

I looked up at him for a moment and took in a number of things. The first was that he was actually quite small. At a guess I'd say he was a first or second year and obviously wasn't aware of the fiasco in today's sixth year Transfiguration class.

Without waiting for an answer he opened the door and I shot in, unseen by the rooms' occupants.

"Sorry guys, but your kitten was outside. Seemed to want to be let in. Anyway, bye." He left, shutting the door on four stunned faces.

Peter jumped up from his position by the far window and with a hiss I zeroed in on him and pounced.

He let out a very feminine shriek and fell backwards over a trunk someone had left out.

My claws came out and I began tearing apart his clothes.

"Get her off me!" Peter shrieked as my claws came closer and closer to skin.

"Quick Sirius," I heard Remus say. "Grab her and I'll turn her back."

Before I could react I felt myself being picked up and I instinctively turned my claws onto the intruder, hissing and biting everything I could find.

"Dammit! She bit me!" Sirius yelled.

He turned me so that my claws were pressed against his chest and held me there firmly. No amount of twisting or turning enabled me to get away.

"_Besta Verto Tergumí_" Remus cried.

I stopped struggling and squeezed my eyes shut. I could feel my arms and legs growing longer, the hair over my body disappearing and my missing ear returning.

Shocked silence settled over the room and I opened my eyes to look directly into Sirius'.

My feet were dangling nearly a foot off the floor and my hands were pressed against Sirius' chest, where my paws had been previously. I was held completely against Sirius' body, his hands covering my backside and I was completely naked.

"Shit," James whispered.

-----

**A/N: **Well I hope this is okay. I couldn't be bothered waiting until next Tuesday to update do I did it now!

Reviews are greatly appreciated!

Dedicated to **Xandirth** for her dirty mind. Don't worry mate, the plan will work out someday!

Bye!


	5. You Can Leave Your Hat On

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer: **I'm afraid I'm just borrowing this for a short drive, then I'm going to have to return them. Nor do I own _You Can Leave Your Hat On_ by Joe Cocker in any way, shape or form. I'm just borrowing that also.

-----

**Chapter Five:** You Can Leave Your Hat On

_Sirius' POV_

"Shit," James whispered.

I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything but stare at her in shock.

She was completely naked. Normally that would have been a good thing, but this time…

I hadn't expected it either. Thinking back though I realise I should have.

----- -----

… _After the transformation you must not forget that your clothes, unlike with animagi, will not change shape with you…_

----- -----

But with all the rush, the commotion, the life-or-death situation, it had slipped my mind. One second we were going over the plans for a prank on the Slytherines', the next a rampaging scary-ass cat-cross-possum had started attacking Peter.

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head of all thoughts, which was a bit hard considering I was holding a naked female.

I came to the conclusion that unless I wanted to die a slow and painful death I wouldn't move my hands in any way. If I removed them I'd be making Amalia flash Peter, James and Remus, and gut instinct told me that that would be a bad thing, and if I moved them any other way she, and everyone else in the room, would think I was feeling her up.

Another conclusion I came to was that while I was unable to see anything I could feel everything. She was soft and, in my personal opinion, nicely shaped, seeming to fit into all the right…

_Stop that! Focus!_ I snapped to myself.

"Uhhhh…" Amalia opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She tried again. "Do you think you could, maybe, put me down?"

She began to squirm in my arms, obviously wanting to be let down immediately.

I smiled my charming smile that, rumour had it, actually turned girls legs to jelly.

"Come now Little One, do you really want to show James, Remus and Peter everything you've got"

She stopped squirming immediately.

Remus was the first to snap out of the trance that had befallen the others.

"Here," he said gruffly, grabbing someone's t-shirt of the nearby bed and holding it out, covering Amalia from behind.

"James, Peter, snap out of it," he said. "Turn around already!"

Both seemed to have slightly blank I'm-off-in-my-own-little-world-where-you-probably-wouldn't-want-to-be-right-now looks on their faces but did as they were told and turned to face the walls.

"Sirius, that goes for you too," Remus snapped.

"Wha… what? Why? I can't see anything!" I cried before I could stop myself.

"Because," Remus said in that long suffering voice of his, which he only brings out when ever one of us asks stupid, pointless questions. "You may not be able to see anything now, but the second you put Amalia down and she moves away you'll be able to see everything, plus some."

"Well why didn't you say?" I asked cheerfully, winking at Amalia. "What say we blow this joint? I know of an empty closet on the first floor with our names on it."

They both glared at me, and I swear I heard Remus grinding his teeth.

"Can we turn back around now?" Peter said hopefully, already starting to turn around.

Amalia opened her mouth, a disgusted look on her face, but once again Remus beat her to it.

"No Peter," he snapped, obviously getting annoyed.

Remus turned back to Amalia, and I quickly closed my eyes. One false move and I'd have both a murderous cat-possum-woman and a werewolf-man on me, both out for my blood.

"Okay Amalia," Remus continued, his voice softening in compassion to her situation. I opened my eyes to take a peak and had to admit she did look particuraly miserable looking. I kind of wanted to give her a hug. "Sirius is going to put you down now, _keeping his eyes closed_, and you can quickly duck into this t-shirt. Don't worry from here I can't see anything either, and the t-shirt should cover you enough for you to be able to get back to your room and get your own clothes."

I felt Amalia nod and start to slip out of my arms. A strange feeling hit me and I suddenly didn't want to let her go.

_That's silly_, I told myself, _you must have been hit on the head during the fight or something. Or maybe you're drunk, somehow, and this is like that time James thought he was in love with that goat he named Milly. But that would mean… Nah._

Following Remus' instructions Amalia was soon demi-decent in what turned out to be James' bed shirt, which looked about four sizes too big for her.

"Thanks," she said simply to Remus.

"No problem," he gently smiled down at her and I suddenly wanted to knock him senseless.

"How about now?" Peter said eagerly, spinning around before anyone could say anything. "Oh…"

The glare returned full force to Amalia's face.

"This is entirely your fault you know! You flicked your wand!"

"I forgot," Peter cried, edging away from her, probably fearing another attack.

"Professor McGonagall warned us half a dozen times that a flick causes the person being turned into the animal a great deal of pain and that too big a flick can cause them to stay in that form forever. Thankfully yours was only a small flick, so I was probably only to be stuck like that for a few hours."

"You're okay now though?" James asked.

"Yes, thanks, I'm okay. I… uh, better go though and, uh, get changed." She began edging towards the door. "I'll return whoever's shirt this is tomorrow."

"Some other time, eh?" I said, just as she reached the door, unable to stay silent any longer. "Just the two of us maybe?"

I grinned as she froze in the doorway. _"So close," _I thought I heard her mutter.

She turned and came back into the room, walking over to stand in front of me and smiled sweetly up at me. I began to smile back.

_She is kinda cute really_, I thought to myself. Her eyes were an unusual green, and her dark brown hair was thick and soft looking, and surprisingly long, reaching almost half way down her back.

_SLAP!_

I reeled backwards from the slap she'd just given me.

She glared at me. "And that's for feeling me up!"

Before I could respond she disappeared out the door.

"Better luck next time, mate," James said.

-----

I sauntered into the Great Hall the next morning knowing, and loving, that every pair of female eyes turned to watch me as I sat down with James and grabbed the last piece of toast off the nearby plate.

"Must you do that every time?" James asked, sounding annoyed.

"What's up with you? Get out the wrong side of the bed or something?"

"No," he snapped.

"Then wh… oh. Oh! I see now. Lily's around here somewhere isn't she?" I took a quick look around and sure enough there she was, sitting just three people away with Amalia and the rest of her roommates.

_Okay, maybe not every pair of female eyes,_ I thought, feeling annoyed for no reason.

"Hello Sirius," I heard a silky voice say off to my right.

Turning my award-winning smile on, I turned around and found Meggin, a seventh year Ravenclaw, sitting next to me.

"Hello yourself," I said back, turning my award winning smile on full blast.

I suddenly felt like I was being watched and turned my head slightly in time to see Amalia glance away. For no reason what so ever I decided to show her just how much others may like me, even if she didn't.

"So what brings you all the way over here to little old me?" I asked.

She smiled at me and began fiddling with a nearby fork.

"A Hogsmead visit is coming up in three weeks, and I thought maybe we could go together?"

"Well, that barely even needs any thought." I smiled at her as she edged closer. "I'd be delighted to go with you. How about we meet in the front hall at ten?"

"Sounds like a plan," she said as she got up to return back to her table. "I'll see you then."

I turned back to James to see him glaring at me.

"How can you even think about going on a date with someone at a time like this?" He growled.

"Prongs, mate. What have I told you about giving up? Saying never? Come on, say it with me."

"Never say never."

"Never say never," he chanted with me, a grin forming on his face. "You're right! I know deep, deep, deep down she must like me!"

"Oi Evans!" He shouted down the table.

Amalia and her roommates, and nearly everyone else in the Great Hall, all turned towards James' voice, Lily being the only one to stay put.

"Would you…"

"No chance," she said cutting him off, jumping up from the table and leaving the room.

"James," Remus said as he and Peter sat down. "What have I told you about the way you speak to Lily? And the reasons she isn't your biggest fan?"

"No time for that," James said eagerly. "Is the prank all ready?"

Remus began to smile. "Of course."

"Great, when will it come into effect?" He asked, practically bouncing in his seat.

"In about… one minute."

James looked almost giddy with excitement.

Remus cleared his throat. "Uh, I'll be back in a second, I've uh, gotta do something." Without another word he jumped up and walked down the table to stop next to Rose and sit down.

"What was that about?" Peter asked, looking confused.

"Dunno," James answered him, looking just as confused. "Anyway, Sirius, you ready with the music?"

"Am I ever," I said.

Remus had done a bit of research before the year came back and said that this song had been popular in something he called a '_moovi',_ something about a full monty. I wasn't too sure what a _moovi_ was exactly. The Muggle Studies teacher had said that we weren't learning anything about that until next year.

Loud groans and gasps came from the Slytherin table. Everyone turned to see all the male students clutching their stomaches, their faces bubbling and slowly changing, slowly so that in the end they looked like… Professor Slughorn.

Whispers ran through the Hall like a wildfire. They all knew that this was the work of us Marauders, and were all wondering what would come next.

"Okay," James whispered. "Three, two, one, go!"

"Help! Make this stop," a desperate seventh year cried as as one they all jumped up on their table and began to dance to the music that had just appeared. All the teachers suddenly found that they were unable to move from their seats and were forced to watch as the entire Slytherin table were forced to do a strip tease.

Each student was wearing a coat, a pair of high heels, a dress, tights and, of course, a hat. Underneath all this was a surprise for the rest of the school.

_Baby take off your coat  
Real slow  
Take off your shoes  
I'll take off your shoes  
Baby take off your dress  
Yes, yes, yes_

They moved with the words, flexing and shaking their hips as they took off each item of clothes with the words of the songs.

_You can leave your hat on  
You can leave your hat on  
You can leave your hat on_

There were shrieks from the other students as they found their surprise. Hidden beneath the portly belly of each Slughorn was a bright yellow jock-strap.

"_Oh my eyes!_" Someone cried.

_Go over there, turn on the light  
Hey, all the lights  
Come over here, stand on that chair  
Yeah, that's right  
Raise your arms up in the air  
Now shake 'em  
You give me reason to live  
You give me reason to live  
You give me reason to live  
You give me reason to live_

The lights in the Great Hall began to dim with the music and the dancing and hip shaking got faster._  
_

_Sweet darling, (you can leave your hat on)  
You can leave your hat on  
Baby, (you can leave your hat on)  
You can leave your hat on  
(You can leave your hat on)  
_

_(You can leave your hat on)  
_

_Suspicious minds are talkin'  
They're tryin' to tear us apart  
They don't believe in this love of mine  
They don't know what love is  
_

_They don't know what love is  
They don't know what love is  
They don't know what love is  
Yeah, I know what love is  
_

_There ain't no way  
(You can leave your hat on)  
You can leave your hat on  
(You can leave your hat on)  
Give me the reason to live  
(You can leave your hat on)  
You can leave your hat on_

As the song ended the dancing Slytherines dropped to the table, dissolving back into their original forms, still wearing their jock-straps and hats, and the teachers were able to move from their seats. The Great Hall was almost silent except for the gasping coming from the Slytherines and the different kind of gasping coming from the rest of the school. The teachers just sat there with slightly shocked, horrified, looks on their faces.

As I looked around nearly everyone was sitting in their seats, laughing so hard that they were almost completely silent. Several people had fallen out of their chairs and were laying, gasping, on the ground.

I looked out the corner of my eye to see Amalia whipping tears from the corner of her eye, her face red from not being able to breathe.

"Mr's Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin, _in my office immediately!_" Professor McGonagall screeched as she rose from her seat and disappeared out the side door.

-----

**A/N:** I hope this chapter sounded okay. I had a bit of trouble making it guyly/manly and I hope the Canon characters sound 'in character'. If not tell me otherwise and I'll try to make the next Sirius chapter better.

I've also decided that if this chapter doesn't work out then I may just stick to Amalia's POV and put in Sirius' POV every now and then. My main aim is for them to sound as close to Canon as possible. I don't want to make them sound, I guess, AU or anything.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad you all liked the last chapters!

-----


	6. James and Amalia?

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Six: **James and Amalia?

_Amalia's POV_

The prank Black, James, Remus and Peter had pulled had been amazing and for a few days afterwards had been the only thing people had talked about.

For their punishment the four had received two weeks worth of detentions, and by the end the castle was definitely looking much cleaner. You could actually see your reflection in the suits of armour around the castle.

It had not gone unnoticed by a number of people the easy punishment that they had received. There were a number of rumours going around concerning this light punishment.

One that I'd heard was that Professor McGonagall wasn't willing to give up the Quidditch trophy and wanted James to focus more on Quidditch practice than scrubbing the castle raw.

Another was that Professor Slughorn hadn't been offended by the stunt in any way, and was in fact quite happy about being the one to be copied.

I wasn't sure what was and what wasn't true but in my opinion both had merit, if the way each teacher was acting in class was anything to go by.

The Slytherines had been quite mortified by the prank and had retaliated just a few days after. Their prank hadn't been on such a grand scale, but amusing none the less. They had cast a spell on the male population of Griffindor that forced them to grow a huge pair of breasts each and wear the most hideous dress imaginable. The prank had been amusing, but in the Slytherines eyes had backfired big time. Instead of being embarrassed by what they were wearing James and his gang had encouraged everyone to flaunt what they had and following their lead had used the prank to their advantage.

That had been three weeks ago and the students of Hogwarts were bracing themselves for another prank, but none seemed to be in the works, for a number of reasons.

The increased workload of all sixth year classes meant that if you weren't in class you were either studying, eating or sleeping, or in Sirius' case not doing any of the practical things and instead spending all his time with his new girlfriend.

I'd found this out completely by accident. I'd been looking around a couple of days later for one of the four, preferably Remus, to return the t-shirt from the 'cat-possum incident', but had instead found James.

For about a week I hadn't been able to look any of them in the eye and had put off returning the shirt for as long as possible.

None of them, thankfully, had mentioned what had happened in their room, and Peter had explained away his cuts by saying he'd fallen down the stairs. It was clear Professor McGonagall hadn't believed him, but nether less she'd accepted our homework without another word.

I'd explained to James that I'd been "awfully busy" lately which was why I hadn't returned it earlier. Thankfully he hadn't seemed too bothered and when I'd turned to leave he asked me to sit down.

----- -----

"What? Why?" I asked curiously.

I looked around for the other four but they weren't to be seen. I sat back down and waited for him to answer.

He sighed. "Remus is off in the library doing _more _studying, Peter's god knows where, and Sirius is probably out snogging his girlfriend," he said grumpily.

I stared at him for a moment, trying to take in this new piece of news.

_Well there you go, just more proof nothing will ever happen._

_Of course not,_ I snapped back to myself, _it's not like I actually thought something would happen._

_Really? Is that what you've been telling yourself?_

_Oh shut up!_ I frowned at my thoughts._ Of course I never actually thought…_

James cleared his throat and my head shot up to see him looking at me curiously, a hidden look on his face.

"Yeah," he continued. "They're going to the upcoming Hogsmead visit together."

"Well, isn't that nice," I said.

"Are you going with anyone?" He asked suddenly.

I shook my head.

"Oh, yeah, same here."

I looked at him. "What about Remus and Peter?"

"Remus is going with Rose, he asked her a couple of days ago, and Peter said he's decided not to go, something about catching up on homework. What about you?" He cleared his throat. "Is Lily going? Or any of your other roommates?"

_Subtle James, very subtle,_ I laughed.

"All my roommates have dates and from what I got from Lily she's decided to start revising for exams."

He looked at me in shock.

"What? Already? That's… wow." He grinned his eyes becoming distant.

"Well I've got to go anyway, get some homework done." I told him, beginning to stand up.

"Hang on, I have an idea."

I winced. Sentences that start off like that never end well.

"Oh?"

"We can go together!"

"Uhhh," I tried to say something.

"No, no, not like that! You don't have anyone to go with and neither do I. We can just hang out."

I wasn't too sure about that but shrugged anyway. "Well why not? It'd at least make the day interesting."

"Great! I'll meet you here at, say, ten?"

"Sounds great, I'll be there."

This time I was able to leave without being stopped.

_Third time lucky,_ I thought to myself and began mentally planning what homework I'd do tonight, completely forgetting about my 'date'.

----- -----

Today was that day. Looking outside the far window I could see that we were in for some clear skies and lots of sunlight, if still a bit chilly.

I was a good hour or so early. I hadn't meant to, but I'd had a fairly good sleep and ended up waking up at around 8:30. There had been no point in laying in bed any longer, and there was no point in going to get some breakfast, I wasn't too hungry.

I'd instead decided to get dressed and get some more homework out the way. I'd been keeping a fairly steady pace with the homework, never letting myself get behind, but not going out my way to get ahead either. The Charms homework I was doing now was the last I had to do at the moment. If I managed to get it out the way today I'd have all of Sunday free to do whatever I wanted. I was about half way done so there wasn't a lot more to do.

Forty minutes later I'd completed the homework and was now just siting and waiting, off in my own little world.

I was so deep in that little world that I didn't hear someone call my name, or see the hand they waved in front of my face.

"Little One! Amalia! Oi, you in there?"

I frowned and looked up at the intruder.

"What do you want Black?" I snapped.

"Well, that's not anyway to say hello. You're not much of a morning person are you?"

I sighed. "I feel we've had this conversation before, if you may recall."

"Oh I do," he said gleefully. "But I would have thought that after the 'incident' things would have changed."

"What incident," I asked blankly.

"_Meow,_" he said. "Come on, it was a fairly big event, in everyone's eyes."

"Oh!" It hit me suddenly what he was talking about. What can I say I was a bit slow this morning. "I thought you would have forgotten that already."

"Oh no way!" He laughed. "That was a classic."

I glared at him. "Is there a reason you're here other than to bug me?"

"No, not really. I have a couple of minutes to kill before I head down to the great hall."

_Oh_, I thought.

Before I could say anything he continued. "Are you going to Hogsmead?"

"Yeah, whenever he gets down," I told him.

He froze in the act of getting up off the chair and looked at me. "Oh," he said. "Who's he?"

I opened my mouth to tell him who when, speak of the devil, he appeared.

"Come on then," James said excitedly. "If we don't hurry we'll miss everything."

Before I could say anything, or even inform him that we can't possibly leave the castle until ten, he grabbed my hand and yanked me towards the exit.

"See ya later Sirius," he yelled over his shoulder as we disappeared through the portrait hole, leaving a shocked looking Sirius behind.

-----

Four and a half hours later James and I had collapsed on a small section of grass along the path that led to Hogwarts. We'd been wandering around the little town continually for ages, in my opinion. We'd been in every shop at least two or three times and the only things we'd brought were some lollies and some school supplies.

With others that trip may have been boring, but I finally found out what Remus, Black and Peter saw in this tall bespectacled boy. He had an indefinite amount of energy and had kept me laughing for almost all of the trip.

We hadn't hide or hair of any of our friends, which had surprised us both.

I took a large gulp of my Butterbeer and lay on my back on the cool grass.

"Today was… interesting," I laughed.

James plonked himself next to me and we both looked up at the clouds in the sky.

"Yeah, better than it is sometimes with Sirius," he joked. "Sirius has never been able to sweet-talk his way into any of the shops on the east side of Hogsmead. For some reason they all adamantly refuse him entry."

"Well what can I say? I'm not just good looks," I said.

James grinned and opened his mouth to reply but the sound of voices coming along the lane interrupted him.

"What…" He sat up and craned his neck to get a look at what was happening.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"From what I can see here it looks like the entire upper half of the school is coming along the lane."

"Why?"

He just looked at me.

"Sorry," I said.

He grinned and we both jumped up and grabbed our things, just as the large group came around the corner and in the lead, the four heads of houses.

"What's going on?" James asked Professor McGonagall.

"Ah, there you two are. That's everyone. Come along now," she instructed, ignoring his question.

I looked at James uncertainly as the large group continued past, slipping in at the end.

"Well, who do we have here?" A voice said off to our left.

We both looked over to see all our roommates, all of whom were looking back at us in shock.

"Uh, hi Lily," I said uncertainly.

"What are you doing with him?" She asked, looking and sounding annoyed.

"Well, everyone else either had dates or weren't going in and neither of us had anyone to go with so we decided to go together."

"Oh, isn't that nice?" Rose said with a small smile as she walked.

"Well… But…" Lily stuttered. "But him of all people?"

I shrugged. "I had fun," I told her.

James laughed and slung his arm over my shoulder. "I did too!"

"Gee get a load of yourselves," Sirius snapped. "Anyone would think you two were dating."

By now our argument had attracted the attention of nearly everyone around us.

"Give it a rest Sirius," James said, frowning.

"However did you guess Black?" I said sarcastically.

Everyone around us looked at us in shock.

"James is dating Amalia," someone said, getting more peoples attention and the rumour spread like a forest fire.

"Oh for… I was being sarcastic," I snapped at them.

But it was too late; I could not believe how gullible they all were to have easily believed that.

I turned back to my roommates to find them all looking at me in shock. Lily glared at me and stalking off towards the front of the group. I could feel myself getting annoyed.

James seemed to be in the same situation. Remus and Peter were both staring at him, the latter looking extremely confused, and Sirius was glaring at him.

"So how long has this been going on?" He asked angrily.

"Nothing's going on," we both cried.

He just glared at us and didn't say anything

"So…" Remus said awkwardly.

He was saved from having to say anything by our arrival back at the school.

James took a deep breath. "What's going on?" He asked Remus calmly.

"We're not sure," Remus replied. "Professor McGonagall just turned up with the other heads of houses and they started rounding everyone up, you two were the last. They'll probably tell us at dinner today."

I nodded, that seemed reasonable.

We reached our common room a couple of minutes later.

"Sorry about before," I said to James.

"That's okay," he said. "I get the feeling he was going to pick a fight anyway."

I shrugged. 'Well I better go, try to calm Lily down."

James nodded. "I'm guessing I'll be doing the same with Sirius."

"Well I had fun today anyway, thanks!"

He grinned. "My pleasure, see you around."

I nodded and went up the stairs to my room.

-----

"Lily, would you listen to yourself," I snapped. "Try to get your head around the facts here. You don't like him. I don't like like him. He like likes you. He _doesn't_ like like me. _We. Are. Not. Dating._"

"How can I believe you?" She asked.

"Would you listen to yourself, does it really matter?"

I felt like banging my head against a brick wall, it'd be far less frustrating than this conversation. Nikki, Rebecca and Rose all sat on one bed together looking at us, their heads swivelling back and forth like a tennis match.

She glared at me for a moment then sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"Funny, neither do I," I said sarcastically.

"It's just… Why didn't you tell me?"

"It had completely slipped my mind until yesterday, and I hadn't seen you all day, remember?"

"Yeah… Sorry," she said again.

"That's okay, just don't do it again," I grinned as I used my Professor McGonagall voice.

She grinned back.

"Well, now that that's all settled," Rebecca said. "Why don't we head down to dinner? I'm starving."

We all laughed as she led the way out the room.

-----

_James' POV_

"Sirius, what's your problem?" I asked.

When I'd reached my room I'd found the other three already there, sitting silently on their beds.

He looked at me, obviously annoyed. "I thought you liked Lily."

"I _do_!" I told him.

He stood up and faced me across the room.

"Then why in the world are you going out with Amalia?" He snapped.

"_I'm not!_" I gritted my teeth. We were just going around in circles, and what I was saying just wasn't getting through his thick skull.

"Look," I said, trying to be calm. "I like like Lily. You like like Amalia. I don't like like Amalia. She, obviously, like likes you. She _doesn't_ like like me. _We. Are. Not. Dating._"

He stared at me, not comprehending what I'd just told him.

"James is right Sirius," Remus said, butting in. "It's a bit early to tell, but I'm pretty sure he's onto something."

Sirius shook his head. "You're both nuts. I don't like her. I have a girlfriend."

"So?" The three of us asked at the same time.

He looked at us for a moment then shook his head again.

"It's dinner time, let's head down?"

Without waiting for an answer he disappeared out the door.

-----

**A/N:** Hmmm it's starting! I just hope I've laid the foundation.

Thanks everyone for the reviews! I've decided to try a different format for awhile, see how that goes.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!


	7. Study Buddies and Best Friends

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Six: **Study Buddies and Best Friends

_Sirius' POV_

----- -----

"_Look," James said, trying to be calm. "I like like Lily. You like like Amalia. I don't like like Amalia. She, obviously, like likes you. She doesn't like like me. We. Are. Not. Dating."_

----- -----

It wasn't possible. It couldn't possibly happen.

I had a girlfriend.

It wouldn't work anyway. We were way too different. She was short, I was tall. She had… I had… It just…

No, it just couldn't work.

Could it?

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I sat in the Griffindor common room, staring moodily into the fire. I'd finished my homework half an hour ago and had no desire to get up just yet.

I looked over at the person I'd dubbed as my 'study buddy'. Remus sat on the couch next to me and was also looking into the fire. He had finished his homework long before I had and had begun reading ahead in one of our text books. Since about third week we had unconsciously fallen into the habit of working through most of our homework together. It had been a comforting feeling, this routine, knowing that nothing was expected of me and I expected nothing of him.

I glanced out the nearby window. The weather at the moment was horrible. Cold, wet and windy. So bad in fact the first Quidditch match of the school year had been called off after the entire Hufflepuff team had been blown into the Whomping Willow. It also meant that everyone was stuck inside and tempers were running high.

Giggles erupted from a secluded corner of the room and I glanced over at Black and his girlfriend Meggin. I didn't like her. She was a complete bimbo and had been boasting to everyone just who she was dating. On the plus side it got Margaret off my back. I swear I had no idea what she was talking about half the time.

I looked back at Remus to see him looking at me sympathetically.

"Don't worry it won't last," he said softly.

I didn't bother pretending I had no idea what he was talking about.

"That's mean," I said. "Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? It could last."

He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment and smiled.

"No, I can guarantee it won't. He needs someone… special. Someone who won't take his crap."

I shrugged. "Well he's your friend."

Raised voices caught our attention.

"Please Evans, wouldn't you…"

"No chance," she snapped, disappearing up the stairs.

James slumped and dropped onto the couch, squishing himself between me and Remus.

I smiled and shook my head.

_Gotta admire that bloke,_ I thought, _he never gives up_.

"No luck?" Remus asked as though we hadn't witnessed anything.

"No," James said dejectedly.

I grinned cheekily. "Well she must be warming up to you. She let you say more than two words this time _and_ instead of shouting to us how much she hates you she mumbles it all now. Though that may be because Rebecca told her she'll rip out her tongue the next time she catches Lily complaining…"

James looked at me for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not I'd just insulted him.

Coming to a conclusion he sat up and grinned. "Hey, you…"

"No chance," I said, knowing what he had been about to ask.

"Oh." He slumped back down.

"Better luck next time mate," Black said as he sat down on one of the chairs.

James looked around the room. "Where's Meggin?" He asked.

"She had to go, something about an extra credit project. Hey, has anyone heard anything about what happened at the Hogsmead visit last weekend?" He asked suddenly.

I looked up. Professor Dumbledore hadn't made any announcement at the dinner that night and we hadn't heard anything about it since.

"Oh!" Remus said suddenly. "I'd completely forgotten. At the Prefects meeting today Hogsmead visits had been discussed and Professor McGonagall accidentally let something slip. We'd been trying to organise when we should have the next one and she said that none will be held until it's safer for the students, and if we do go it'll only be in small groups and we must be accompanied by a teacher at all times."

"Safer?" James asked. "Could that mean…?"

"An attack," Sirius filled in.

"But nothing happened while we were there," I said, feeling confused.

"Maybe they thought there would be an attack and got everyone out just in case," Remus reasoned.

We fell silent, digesting this new piece of information.

James coughed. "So Sirius, you've been with Meggin for a number of weeks now. How serious is it?"

"Oh, it's very Sirius," he laughed. "Mate you walked right into that one."

James glared at him. "One more joke about that and I'll sic Amalia here on you."

"Oohhh, I'm so scared." He said. "Anyway, nah I wouldn't say it was too _serious_. I think I'll end it tomorrow maybe."

The butterflies in my stomach woke up and I shifted in my seat irritably.

Remus laughed. "Gee, we never saw that coming did we?"

"It's not my fault the relationship has lost its spark," Sirius said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"It never is, is it?"

He didn't bother answering that.

"Say Remus, you going to tell us what the big Prefect secret it? What exactly are you guys planning?"

Remus sighed. "You know I can't answer that, so stop asking."

"Is it a ball?" I asked, remembering the conversation I'd had with my roommates.

"How… No! Stop asking me," he said irritably.

I pulled a face and Sirius laughed.

I grinned over at him and he suddenly frowned and looked away.

"Well guys I think I'll head up. Night," he said as got up and he left the room.

_What was that about?_ I wondered.

-----

_I hate potions_, I thought. _They're complete rubbish and a big waste of time_.

"Okay folks," Professor Slughorn said gleefully. "Today we'll be starting the biggest, hardest assignment of the year, which coincidentally also has the most points attached to it. You will be working in the pairs I placed you in at the start of the year and you will be researching a potion of your choice. To get a passing grade for this project you will need to be able to work successfully together to complete a twenty inch essay on every aspect of that potion and also be able to successfully brew this potion in the last lesson before Christmas holidays. I expect to have a record of which potion you will all be doing by next lesson. You need not come into class until the last lesson, but it would be wise for you to work on the project during this time. You may go off now, preferably to the library, and start your research."

I looked at James. He looked back at me.

"Well, may as well go find a potion to do," he said, grabbing his stuff.

"Yeah," I said, following him out the door. "I guess we should find a potion that's hard, but also has a lot of information on it. Otherwise it'd be easier to write twenty inches."

"Nah, don't worry about that part, that'll be easy. It's the brewing part that'll be hard."

"At least I'm not with Peter in this class," I laughed. "Poor Sirius."

He laughed with me. "Yeah! I take it you're good at brewing potions then?"

"Me?" I asked, startled. "No, I thought you were."

He looked down at me. "No, I thought you were."

"What?" I glared up at him. "How in the world did you get into this class? I've always assumed you had to be good at brewing them."

"What do you mean, how did I get in this class? How did _you _get in this class?"

"Barely. I only got in because I was good at the assignment part and could bluff my way through the brewing part."

He sighed. "Well, this should be interesting at any rate."

-----

"Okay, how about the Aging Potion?" James asked.

"Nah, too boring," I said.

"Amortentia?"

"No."

"Anti-Poison Potion?"

"No… are you just reading them all alphabetically?" I asked in annoyance.

"Uh, yeah," he laughed. "I found a list here of a bunch of potions."

"Okay, is there anything that sounds good in there?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's something here called the Elixir to Induce Euphoria, how about that?"

"Why not?" I said. "It sounds interesting to say the least."

"Okay, that's done then. I'll go tell Slughorn what we're doing and you can stay here and try to find some books on the potion."

I looked at him critically for a moment. "Okay. Only if you promise to come back straight away to help me look. If we find many it'll be hard for just me to get them out the library and to the common room."

"Sounds good to me, I'll be back in a second," he said as he disappeared out the door and I began looking for any book that may help me.

-----

I spent an hour of looking for books, finding a surprising amount that could help us, and another half an hour writing part of the assignment, and still James had yet to turn up. I hadn't seen any of my classmates for a nearly fifteen minutes and no other student for a good five or so minutes.

Madam Pince had taken to following and watching me as I got some work done. At one point she had nearly scared the crap out of me when I'd taken one book off the shelf and had found her face in its place.

I'd been tempted to be a smart-aleck about it but decided that with such an important assignment to get done I didn't want to be chucked out of the library, or worse, banned. Instead I'd just smiled at her and went back to my work.

Finishing with one book I got up my courage to ask her where one particularly promising book could be found. She informed me, quite unhappily, that it was down in one of the back isles and that I'd have to get it myself.

I made my way along the shelves, looking at the small and fading signage for guidance. As I moved further back into the depths of the library lighting became scarce and I had to use my want to read the book spines.

"History of… no. Accidental… no. No. No. No. Oh come on, it's got to be around here somewhere." I said to myself, the silence and darkness beginning to get to me.

I came to the end of the shelves and stopped. I could hear something coming from the last row of shelving.

I slowly began to make my way over and stopped again when I reached the end, shocked at what I saw.

"_Meggin_?"

­-----

"Look, its okay! It wasn't you, it was him. He's mean. Ungrateful… Uh, arrogant. Stupid. You name it."

"No," she sobbed into my shoulder, having borrowed it a couple of minutes ago to have a good cry. "It is me."

"No, I'm sure it's not."

She sobbed harder and looked at me. "He said it was me."

It took all my effort to stop my jaw from dropping in shock.

"Well I'm sure he was just mistaken… or drunk!" I told her hopefully.

She started crying earnestly.

I sighed. _This was going to be a long afternoon._

-----

"Everyone hates me."

_Oh god, we're getting into this_, I thought sadly.

"I have no friends," she cried.

"Yes you do," I told her. "You hang out with all those people from your House."

She cried harder, if that was possible.

"They don't like meeee!"

I suddenly found the idea of banging my head against a brick wall much more comforting.

-----

"I'm too fat. Maybe that's why he dumped me?" She said hopefully.

"Uhhh..." I wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Or maybe it was because I was in a different house? Or because he was shorter than me? Or..." At this point I had to tune her out, if only to save myself from going mad.

-----

"Thank you," she said, whipping her eyes with a salvaged tissue. "I feel much better now."

"That's okay," I told her. "It was the least I could do."

"We can be friends!" She said happily.

After the conversation I just had I decided saying no would be both mean and spell the end of the rest of my afternoon.

"Sure!" I said smiling at her, whilst inside I was planning two murders.

She looked at me seriously for a moment then smiled again.

"You know, I think I can see what he was talking about."

Without another word she left, leaving me confused from her last statement.

-----

It hadn't taken me long to find the book I'd originally been looking for, and borrowing it from the library. It was a big, dusty book but I was hoping that it would have a lot of information for our project.

Grabbing my stuff I set off for 'Mission to Kill'.

-----

I entered the Griffindor common room silently. The room was almost empty, but I could see and hear four distinct people, sitting in front of the fire.

"_You! _Both of you! You're both _dead meat!_

-----

**A/N:** Well that's the end of another chapter! I think it went well, and I was happy about it and I hope everyone else will be too.

A big thank you to everyone for the reviews!


	8. Sensual Charms

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Eight: **Sensual Charms

_Amalia's POV_

Remus coughed and cleared his throat.

"So… willing to let them down yet?" He asked cautiously.

"No," I said simply.

He sighed, obviously feeling sorry for them.

"It's been three hours though," he pointed out.

"Oh, is that all?" I asked innocently and looked over at him.

He looked back at me.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Bad doesn't even begin to describe what I went through," I told him. "I waited for Potter for _an hour and a half_ and he still didn't turn up, and Black! The nerve of him! I don't even know where to start."

"Try," Remus suggested.

"_Well_ first off, the nerve of him to dump Meggin so unfeelingly," I said, feeling myself getting worked up again. "And telling her _it was her own fault_."

Out the corner of my eye I saw him wince.

"He left her all alone in the library for most of the day, from what I could tell," I continued. "And to top it all off a girl I don't even like, and have never talked to before today, wants to be best friends! _And_ she stole all my tissues."

I glared at Remus as though daring him to contradict me.

"Well… Okay I can see that they both did a number of things wrong but… Was it really necessary to hang them upside-down from the window? It is raining out there."

"Not my problem," I said simply

"But… did Peter also need to go with them?"

"Yes," I told him, looking at him sharply. "Do you want to join them?"

"No, no, I'm good," he said hastily.

"Good, well I'm off to bed them."

Without waiting for an answer I disappeared up the stairs to my room.

­-----

_Remus' POV_

I waited for Amalia to disappear up the stairs to her room before running over to the window, planning on bringing James, Sirius and Peter in.

"Hurry up Remus," James chatted. "It's f-f-f-freezing out here."

"I'm trying, but none of the spells seem to be working."

"Nice going," Sirius said. "This is entirely your fault."

"Me! You're the one who dumped Meggin today."

"Well how was I to know Amalia would find her?"

James opened his mouth to reply but I cut in. It was obvious that they'd been through this argument a number of times, judging by the number of bruises and scratches that decorated each others faces.

"Guys, I can't get the ropes undone," I told them, pointing out the obvious.

"Forget the ropes," Sirius said. "Just get us inside."

I nodded, already trying a new angle. Amalia had tied their feet together with some magical rope, and then tied that piece of rope to a pole outside the window. No matter what I did the rope was refusing to budge or break. Now all I needed to do was break the pole away from the castle.

With a flick of my wand the pole, and my three best friends, came away from the wall and hovered in midair.

The wind was howling all around me, nearly pulling me from my perilous position on the windowsill. The rain was coming down so hard and fast that I couldn't see more than five feet in front of me.

My hands began to shake with the effort it took to try to bring my friends inside. I was fighting a losing battle however as they slowly began to drift further and further away, the looks of annoyance on their faces making this almost comical.

I clenched my teeth and focused all my effort into pulling them back inside.

I heard someone yell from behind me, distracting me and causing me to let go of all my will. I could only watch in horror as James, Sirius and Peter disappeared into the darkness around me.

"Shit…" I heard a familiar voice say from beside me. "I just came down to tell you not to do anything foolish like try to get them back inside in this weather without help."

I looked down at Amalia's stunned face incredulously and turned to bang my head on the wall.

"Well come on then," she said as she pulled the window closed. "I guess we better get out there to find them."

We shared a look, both thinking the same thing. W_ere they really worth is?_

-----

_Sirius' POV_

_I'll kill them. I'll kill both of them._

"I'll kill them," I muttered.

James looked at me awkwardly over Peter's vast bulk.

"It was an honest mistake," he said.

"_An honest mistake!_ James she hung us upside down outside the window in the middle of a freak storm. Then _Remus_, our supposed _friend_ 'tries to help us back in' but instead sends us off to ride the wind and land somewhere in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. We don't even know if we're heading for the castle or not."

James snorted. "Mate, I don't think there'll be a lot of killing going on," he said cryptically.

I frowned at him.

"The only downside I see to this is that Peter was knocked unconscious and without our wands we have to carry him," James said.

I grunted. "Agreed."

"Ah hah!" James cried.

"What?" I asked, feeling alarmed. So far we hadn't seen anything to be worried about, but I didn't want to push my luck too far.

"There, through those trees, I can see the castle! We're not too far away now!"

"James," I said patiently. "We've been out here so long the rain and wind has stopped and I can see the sun rising in the distance."

He ignored me and kept looking ahead.

"Look," he cried suddenly. "I can see someone!"

-----

_Amalia's POV_

"Are you sure they're around here somewhere?" I asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Remus replied. "If my calculations of the strength of the wind, the weight James, Sirius and Peter combined would make, and the height at which they fell, they should have landed somewhere just inside the Forbidden Forest. The fall would not have killed them thankfully; the angle at which they were flying meant they most likely would have skidded along the ground instead. We've just gotta hope that they didn't wander the wrong way and go deeper into the forest."

I fell silent for a moment. "But we've been out here looking for so long that I can see the sun rising over there."

"_I'm going to kill both of you,_" a very annoyed voice said.

-----

_Remus POV_

I looked over my shoulder and stopped dead.

There stood James and Sirius, supporting an unconscious Peter between them.

"Hey, guys," I said. "Glad to see you're okay. We've been looking for you for hours."

I gestured to where Amalia had been, glancing over there to see that she wasn't there any more.

I looked down in shock when her head popped out from behind me.

"Hi guys," she said nervously, holding onto the back of my robe.

"_You_," Sirius said, letting go of Peters arm and causing him to fall to the ground, bringing James with him.

"Hey!" Amalia snapped, stepping out from behind me. "It's not my fault. I was getting you back for what you made me go through!"

"And now I'm getting you back for getting me back," he growled as he slowly came closer.

I smartly stepped out the way; I wasn't in the mood to get caught up in one of their fights, which I noticed have been happening more and more often.

As they began arguing and finger pointing I headed over to where James was trying to wake Peter up.

"What happened?" I asked, getting my wand out and handing James his.

"We think he fainted, hasn't woken up since we landed."

I nodded at James and we started back to the castle, Peter floating behind us.

"How did you guys get undone?" I asked curiously as we walked.

'"Oh, that was the easy part, just used a nearby rock. It seemed the magic wore off sometime in the fall. Don't tell Sriius but I'm pretty sure we were walking in circles for the past few hours"

I laughed at the image that presented me.

I looked over my shoulder briefly as we came to the castle gates and saw Amalia stalking off in one direction and Sirius in the other.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

The weekend was finally over.

I had spent the entire time doing as much homework as was possible to fit into forty-eight hours and finally managed to finish everything late last night.

I sat down in my customary chair in Charms, noting that Sirius and his friends had yet to arrive.

_Spoke too soon_, I thought as the door opened with a band and the four entered.

Sirius sat down next to me, on my right, without once looking my way. Not surprising after the Friday night incident and I turned to face the front of the room.

_Wait a second! You just called him Sirius! Since when is he Sirius to you instead of Black?_

I frowned at myself. _It was a mistake is all, these things happen._

_No, people do not start calling the person they hate by their first name_.

_I don't hate him_, I snapped to myself. _Shove off already, class is starting._

After everyone had taken their seats Professor Flitwick began discussing the new charm we will be practicing in today's lesson and also for homework. After giving us a number of examples he left us to practice, letting us work with our partners if we needed to.

Immediately people began talking softly but the back left row was as silent as a funeral.

After fifty minutes of practicing and getting not a single hint to show that I was doing it right, Sirius butted in. He had his spell working a good twenty minutes before and had been silently looking around the room, off in his own little world.

"You're doing it wrong," he said suddenly.

I looked over at him. "How so?" I asked, not feeling the least bit annoyed that he was basically taking over.

"You flick upwards then right _then_ diagonal, not up, diagonal then right," giving me a brief demonstration as he talked.

"Okay, I think I get it," giving him my own demonstration.

He chuckled softly and my stomach turned over.

"No, you did it again. Here," he said.

He reached over and covered my hand with his. He was suddenly a lot closer than I had expected. His other arm was braced across the back of my chair and I could feel his hot breath as he leaned forward and whispered in my ear.

"Up, right, then diagonal. Up, right, diagonal. Up, right, diagonal…"

He punctuated each sentence with another example.

My stomach wasn't simply turning it was doing a full blown Irish jig and my hands had begun to sweat.

"Now you do it," he said, not removing his hand.

"Up, right, diagonal. Up, right, diagonal…" I whispered, looking at Sirius out the corner of my eye, noticing a number of things now that I'd never noticed before.

He had an earthy, fresh smell that I liked. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling his scent... His breath was tickling the back of my neck, brushing the small hairs back there... His black hair fell softly over his forehead and past his ears. It was soft looking and I almost wanted to run my hands through it to see just how soft it really was... His hand was dangling off the edge of the back of my chair, brushing my arm whenever I took a deep breath, sending shivers down my spine with every brush... There was less than two inches left between my back and his chest. If I was to move just a bit I'd be able to…

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, that is all for today's lesson, remember to keep practicing what we learnt today and I expect everyone to know it by next lesson.

-----

A/N: Whoops, I didn't mean to spend nearly a whole chapter on Amalia's 'murder' of James and Sirius! I thought that end part was sweet! One of their first moments!

This chapter was the shortest one yet, but hopefully I'll have them all longer from now on!

Like always, thank you every one for the reviews! I can feel my head getting bigger with each email cheeky grin Sorry joking.

Also as always reviews are greatly appreciated and loved!

**Sorry for the two emails. The link wasn't working so it was suggested I repost it, so I did.**

Bye!


	9. Accidents Happen

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Nine: **Accidents Happen

_Sirius' POV_

I took a deep breath as I walked along next to James, Remus and Peter.

Charms had finished minutes ago and, in my opinion, I couldn't get out there fast enough.

It had been a close call. I don't know what I was thinking.

_That's it exactly_, the voice inside my head said,_ you weren't thinking were you?_

I ignored him. He just gets in the way and confuses the issue. When I'm drunk, or doing something bad, I like to call him Remus, because basically he says what Remus would say if he were there.

I had to get away, clear my head, work this out.

We came to the entrance hall and without another word I turned and left the castle. I didn't have a lesson now anyway, so it wasn't like I was going to miss anything important.

I could hear James and Remus yelling my name but I ignored them and headed for our tree by the lake.

-----

_Lily's POV_

_Now that had to have been the single most interesting Charms lesson I've ever been to_, I thought to myself as Amalia, Rose, Nikki, Rebecca and I headed back to the Common Room.

I, and nearly everyone else in the class, had noticed the two of them just before Professor Flitwick had told us that we could leave. I had seen a number of disappointed faces around the room after that incident.

I couldn't help but chuckle as I looked over at Amalia. It was obvious she was off in her own little world, so deep in, in fact, I don't think she noticed she just knocked three first years down the stairs.

A chuckle from my left informed me that I wasn't the only one amused by this new development.

Rebecca leaned over, her fringe falling into her eyes as she did so, and whispered to me. "I take it we're going to have to give her a talk sometime soon, nudge her in the right direction and all."

Rose looked at us curiously. "What do you mean?" She asked. "Are you talking about that incident back in Charms?" She grinned evilly, flicking her short blonde hair out of her face.

"A nudge?" I said to them both. "We're going to have to beat her with a cricket bat for her to realise what this all means."

Nikki sighed. "You're right. I bet you ten galleons that she's arguing with herself right now about how it couldn't possibly happen and that she'd best just ignore it."

I nodded, that seemed like just the thing she'd do. "Well we'll just have to help her… Watch out!"

"Ow!" Amalia cried. "Who the hell put that piece of armour there?"

-----

"Look, I have a plan," Rebecca whispered.

Amalia had disappeared into the bathroom, with that same blank look on her face, and we'd immediately jumped together to discuss how to go about talking to her.

"It's most likely that if we're too blunt she'll shut us out and deny it as vehemently as Lily not liking James."

"Hey," I butted in. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing," she said soothingly. "Now, maybe if we were to just drop hints every now and then…?"

"No, that won't work either. Her brain's a funny one. If we drop small hints she tells herself she's imagining it, if we tell her how it is she'll tell us we're imagining it, if we convince Sirius to make the first move she'll think it's just some sort of cruel joke," I reasoned.

"Then what in the world are we supposed to do?" Rose asked. "Make her jealous maybe?"

"Nah, that won't work either. She'll think they really do like each other and convince herself she doesn't like him."

Nikki sighed thoughtfully. "Look the best thing to do would be to work at her subconscious and while we're doing that also work at getting Sirius to realise how he, obviously, feels."

The bathroom door opened with a bang and Amalia stumbled out.

"Dammit, hit my toe on the door again," she snapped.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

I stared into the depths of the Great Lake, watching as the Giant Squid moved it's tentacles gently just below the surface. The sun was hidden behind ominous black clouds

It had taken five hours, fourteen minutes and threats of dismemberment from James and Remus, but I'd finally come to a conclusion.

Now all I had to do was workout a plan, beginning with getting some help.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I looked up from my breakfast. One week and four days had gone by since the incident in Charms and it was now Friday, the day we had to brew out potion for Potions. I had tried, and mostly succeeded, in avoiding Sirius as much as possible. When I say 'mostly succeeded' I mean that something seems to be working against me; he seemed to turn up almost everywhere I went, and if he wasn't there it was either one of my friends or one of his friends, who all just kept grinning at me.

I was feeling slightly confused at the moment. Whenever I did have to work with Sirius he was always nice to me and went out of his way to help me. No matter how much I gave him the cold shoulder he never seemed to notice, which was really annoying me.

I'd also come to the conclusion that there was no point in arguing with myself over calling Sirius Sirius instead of Black in my head anymore. I don't know when it first happened, but it stuck and now I couldn't stop.

Today was also the last day of school before the Christmas holidays officially began. For each class we'd all been given homework assignment after homework assignment, and I wouldn't be too surprised if this class would be any different.

I looked over at my roommates. They were up to something. I'd noticed that for the past week they kept sharing secret glances, which they obviously thought I wouldn't notice. I'd asked them a number of times what was going on, what were they planning, but so far they were denying everything. I knew as well as everyone else that Rebecca liked to meddle in other people's affairs, and Rose always liked happy endings so...

Rebecca grinned suddenly. "Sirius," she yelled, attracting a lot of attention from people sitting around us. "Sit over here!" She waved to where we were sitting which, coincidentally, was me on one side and her, Lily, Rose and Nikki on the other side.

I glanced over my shoulder to see James and Remus lead the way over here with Sirius and Peter following behind.

"Hi guys!" Nikki said enthusiastically.

"Hi!" James said. "Mind if we sit here as well?"

"No, no, I'm sure Amalia doesn't mind sharing with you all."

I raised my eyebrows at them as they grinned openly at me. Nothing I did or said seemed to affect them.

Before I realised it James, Remus and Peter had sat down on my right, leaving only one place for Sirius to sit.

My jaw clenched as he sat down and grinned at me. "Hey!" He said innocently.

I just shook my head and went back to eating my breakfast, or at least I tried to. When I looked down I noticed that my entire plate had disappeared.

I opened my mouth to point this out but Sirius butted in.

"Aren't you eating breakfast?" He asked. "That's a bit silly; you need your energy for a whole day of work."

I opened my mouth to tell him that I had already got my breakfast just five minutes ago but it had 'mysteriously' disappeared, but he didn't let me say anything.

"Here, you can share mine, seeing as though you don't have a plate and there aren't any more clean ones left."

I gritted my teeth and tried as hard as I could to ignore the grins that had appeared on everyone's face when I'd reached for some bacon he had on his plate.

They were up to something, and I'm pretty sure I knew what.

-----

"Okay class," Professor Slughorn said. "As you all know today you will be brewing me your potions that you've been researching for the last few weeks. Thanks to everyone who have handed their research up already, that's just one less thing to worry about. Now before you all start I should tell you that I have a little twist at the end. You only have this lesson to work on this, so you may now begin."

"Okay," I said to James. "You get the ingredients and I'll get everything else."

He nodded and without another word disappeared in the direction of the Potions cabinet.

It didn't take either of us very long to collect everything we needed and before long we had the beginning of our potion bubbling away in our cauldron.

I looked over at James to see him staring down at the instructions I'd written out last night. He had a confused look on his face. I can't say I blame him. I'd written it out last night roughly while he'd been writing up our twenty inch assignment, and I didn't have the greatest handwriting in the world.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Do we put the Scurvy-grass in before or after the Dried Nettles?"

"Uh, before I guess," I said, having no idea really.

He shrugged. "Can't hurt to try then."

He grinned over at me and dropped a handful of Scurvy-grass into the cauldron. While we waited for that to dissolve I started cutting up the Wormwood and James sat on his stool staring at me.

I glared up at him as the staring began to get on my nerves.

"What?" I snapped.

He shook his head. "Nothing," he said, but didn't stop scrutinising me.

"James…" I said warningly.

He ignored my question and began to put the Scurvy-grass into the cauldron. "Wonder what the twist is at the end that Slughorn mentioned," he wondered out loud.

I shrugged. I wasn't too worried about that, what's the worst that could happen.

-----

Forty minutes later the sixth year potions class sat in our pairs, our cauldrons clean and put away for use later, and our potions were in front of us, on our table.

James leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Is our potion supposed to be that colour?" He asked worriedly.

"I… well… no, I don't think so," I said. "It's kinda there. It's suppose to be pink, this is bluey-pink, which is good… isn't it?"

He shrugged. "At least ours isn't as bad as Sirius and Peters!"

Against my better judgement I looked over and the pair of tables next to me. I'd been determinedly ignoring them, Sirius in particular, all lesson, walking away whenever Sirius tried to talk to me, not looking at them once. Now though all I could do was stare at their potion in horror. It was… It was… Words couldn't describe the horror I felt when I saw it.

Sirius and Peter both grinned over at use, seemingly oblivious to our horror.

My head snapped forward when Professor Slughorn cleared his throat.

"Well done everyone, for finishing your potions, and with no explosions or signs of destruction anywhere. I've had a quick glance around the room and all your potions are drinkable. Now for the twist. See the group next to you? I want you to swap potions, and you will drink their potion instead of your own."

He grinned at us, practically bouncing on his feet in his excitement and happiness at the joke he had played.

The _entire_ class just looked at him in horror.

"Come on then, now we'll watch each other do it and I'll point out what you did wrong, you'll all be fine. Now Lily, Remus swap with Severus and Michael now. Good, good. Lily you can take the first drink and then share it with Remus. Great! Well done, now that wasn't so hard was it? And the effects are working! Look at their hair grow! Okay, Severus, your turn now…"

And so it went, we watched at people sprouted extra heads from messed up potions and nothing much happen to those that got it right, until it finally got to us.

Sirius and Peter went first, each taking a sip of the potion we had made. Nothing happened at first, and they grinned at us, obviously thinking they were in the clear. It took less than ten seconds for it to hit them, Peter getting it first.

They began laughing.

Laughing very hard.

They fell to the floor and began to roll around, their lips turning blue from lack of oxygen.

"H… h… hel… p…" Sirius gasped through his giggles.

Professor Slughorn ran up and slipped a drop of a mysterious red potion into their open mouths. They stopped laughing and lay on the ground gasping, trying to catch their breaths.

"No worries, no worries," Professor Slughorn said. "Now this only happens when the Scurvy-grass put in before the Dried Nettles?"

"Oops," I muttered.

"Okay, our last pair, then we can all have an early minute," Professor Slughorn shoved Sirius and Peter's potion over to us and waited.

We stood there for a moment, gagging as we finally got a good look at their potion. It was brown and lumpy, and had a foul stench, and we were going to have to drink it. It was by far the worst potion in the entire class.

"Professor," I said tentatively. "This potion is barely drinkable. Do you _want_ us to die?"

He laughed gleefully. "Now my dear girl, I'm right here, nothing bad can happen."

I looked out the corner of my eye at James. He stood next to me with one hand over his mouth, his fingers pinching his nose closed. The entire class was watching us, all wearing identical looks of disgust of their faces.

"Ladies first," he grimaced.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and pinched my nose closed with hand, and slowly raised the potion to my mouth. None of this helped. I could still smell the potion.

I opened my mouth and slipped in half a mouthful of the horrendous potion. _I can't swallow_, I thought suddenly, _I can't even breathe._

The potion was slimy and there were hard chunks of _something_ in here. My eyes started to water as I forced the potion down, gasping and dry reaching as it slid down my throat.

I looked up at James as he stared at me in terror, his hand slowly reaching for the cup.

He did much the same as me, and soon after stood there with his eyes closed.

"Now see, that wasn't so bad, and nothings happened, though the potion was by far the worst I've seen today, I'm sureyou're both fine," Professor Slughorn said, making his way to the front of the class.

_Thud_.

I jumped out the way as James fell to the floor, unconscious. I could feel myself feeling a bit woozy also, but I stayed strong, and conscious, as the class was let out and we dragged James to the Common Room.

-----

Neither James nor I had gotten any sleep last night, partly because of the excitement of leaving for the holidays and going home, and partly because our stomaches wouldn't let us sit still long enough to do anything.

It hadn't taken us long to wake James up, thankfully, after the fainting spell, and he let Sirius and Peter have it.

----- -----

"What the hell did you put in there?" He yelled at them. "What was the potion suppose to be? _I have never tasted or smelt anything that bad before in my life._"

Sirius and Peter looked at each other.

"It was suppose to be a strengthening potion," Peter finally said. "And we only put what was supposed to be in there, like…"

"No!" I cut him off, holding my stomach. "No, I don't want to know what I just drank."

Sirius sat down next to me and put his arms around my shoulder, pulling me against him. I didn't feel well enough to protest, and his smell was clearing my head and quietening my stomach.

He rubbed his hand up and down my arm. "We're sorry, we didn't think he'd actually make anyone drink it," he said softly, though his lips were twitching. I could fel goosebumps appearing along my arm where he was rubbing and a shiver made its way down my spine.

"Ugh…" I said. "I need to move."

----- -----

To distract ourselves from our upset stomaches we decided to do some laps around the castle, quietly of course, so that none of the teachers knew we were out of bed after hours.

Morning couldn't come soon enough and we were on our way home before you could yell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".

I spent the entire ride trying to keep my small breakfast down and stay awake. My plan to stay in a quiet cabin with just my friends flew out the window when Rebecca asked Sirius and his friends to join us. They also had their boyfriends with us, so it was fairly cramped. James and I sat in the corner seats, not bothering to join in the conversations, just sat there looking miserable.

When we finally made it back to London I saw my brother immediately. He stood head and shoulders above almost everyone there. I hated him for that. He got all the height genes, and I got none. He also got the good hair, and eyelash, and good everything genes.

He waved as he saw me hop off the train and threaded his way over to where I was weakly struggling to get my trunk away from Sirius.

"Hey 'Mali," he grinned at me and grabbed me into a crushing bear hug.

Sirius stopped struggling with me and looked at Bryan suspiciously.

I could hear the others talking behind me as I was finally released from my prison and I staggered back laughing.

"Hey! How have you been?" I asked excitedly, forgetting my upset stomach for the moment.

"Great, I've been promoted and I get a pay rise," he told me happily. "You know what this means right? We can move out of our current dump."

I grinned, already imagining getting my own room, instead of having to sleep on the couch.

"When can we start looking?"

"I've already done that and narrowed it down to five. I'll take you round tomorrow and you can decide."

I felt like screaming my happiness and only stopped when I saw the look on Sirius' face.

"Sorry," Bryan said to Sirius. "I didn't mean to be rude. I'm Bryan, this little monsters brother."

Sirius' eyes lit up and he visibly relaxed.

"That's okay," he said. "I'm Sirius Black, a friend of Amalia's from school."

Bryan raised his eyes as he took him in and shook his head. "Nice to meet you, but we better go 'Mali, start packing our stuff and all."

I nodded as Bryan took my trunk from Sirius and I looked at him awkwardly for the moment.

"Well, see you," I said, beginning to turn away.

He grabbed my arm before I could go too far.

"Uhhh… well, I'll see you after the holiday's ey?" He laughed nervously and before I could move pulled me in for a surprise, but brief, hug. I hugged him back awkwardly, trying to control my breathing at being so close to him.

"Well…" we both said as we pulled away, his hand sliding down my arm to hold my hand. I noticed that his hand held mine longer then necessary.

We were broken out of the awkward moment when our friends suddenly surrounded us and from then on it was all hugs goodbye and promises of meeting up sometime and before I knew it I was back with my brother and we were heading home.

He grinned evilly at me as he drove through the back streets to get home.

"So… who's that Sirius Black? He seemed nice," Bryan said as we came to stop at a red light.

I sighed. I should have known this would happen.

"If you like him so much I'll set you two up," I said sarcastically.

"He's your friend not mine." Bryan snorted, use to my sarcasm. "What was going on when I came up?"

"Exactly, barely even that." I gritted my teeth. "He was trying to be chivalrous and hold my trunk for me."

"That was nice of him." Bryan pulled into the garage and parked the car in our allotted space.

"Yeah…" I sighed.

"Well come on, lets pack and you can get some sleep, then tomorrow shopping!"

-----

_James' POV_

I grinned to myself as my parents took on their 'parental role' for Sirius and grilled him on Amalia. The four of us sat in the Living Room, enjoying a brief moment of relaxation before dinner.

For the first time in history I swear I saw the hint of a blush on Sirius' cheeks, but he wasn't denying anything, seeming almost like an eager kid as he told my parents all he knew about Amalia. I almost felt sorry for the girl, it was obvious she was fighting a losing battle, what with everyone seeming to be against her, and I pointed this out to everyone.

I had to laugh as I watched the grilling continue. I didn't feel jealous at all watching this moment, knowing the hell Sirius went through at his old house with his 'family' and it was nice to see him serious about a girl for once.

Because that was what he was. He was _very_ serious about Amalia.

Lily had taken Remus aside two weeks ago and explained their plan to him, and he in turn had explained it all to us.

Sirius seemed to realise just how much time this was going to take, and for once wasn't being impatient about the amount of time it was taking.

My parents laughed at something Sirius said and they both began to make suggestions as to what Sirius could try.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I finally slipped into my bed with a sigh of relief. My stomach had calmed down and I had found myself starving. I'd eaten two helpings of the pasta I'd cooked for dinner for me and my brother and now all I wanted to do was sleep.

I laid my head on my favourite pillow and fell asleep almost immediately.

-----

I woke up the next morning feeling well refreshed but slightly disorientated. I opened my eyes and stifled a scream.

_This wasn't my room!_

I sat up slowly and looked around the room.

It was big. That was my first impression. A start contrast to the little apartment I lived in with my brother.

_Geez_, I thought,_ my entire apartment could fit in this room._

The bed was also huge. It had to be at least a kings size and very masculine. The walls were a plain cream colour but the bed cover, and the carpet, was a deep maroon.

A large, built-in wardrobe took up almost an entire wall off to my left and to my right was a, again huge, window overlooking a spectacular garden, full of large, green trees.

The door banged open, nearly scaring the pants off me, and I stared in horror as someone bounded into the room.

"_Sirius?"_

-----

**A/N: **Sorry I took so long. It was partly because I wasn't sure how I wanted to write this part and partly (cough) mostly (cough) because I've been reading three new, but brilliant, books.

Thank you **LovelyClair** for introducing me to the books Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse and my new obsession! And thank you everyone for your reviews!

Like always reviews are always loved!


	10. Toilet Training

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Ten: **Toilet Training

_Sirius' POV_

"_Sirius?"_

I grinned as I entered James' room. He'd slept away most of the morning and Mrs Potter had finally asked me to get her 'dear son' up and about.

"James, mate! You're awake!"

I stopped at the foot of his bed as he stared at me in open horror.

"Prongs, you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

He continued to stare at me, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

"P… g… n… ugh…"

I frowned down at him; there was something different about him this morning, apart from his obvious loss of the ability to speak. He was sitting upright in the middle of his massive bed, holding up his bed cover like a shield.

"Well come on then, Mum wants you out of bed and dressed. Lunch is almost ready." I shrugged and decided to leave him to find his own way.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I stared at the retreating figure of Sirius Black as he left the room.

I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. Why was he calling me James? And what's a prongs? I didn't think he knew anything about Muggle objects.

I stumbled out of bed, over to the mirror stuck to one of wardrobe doors and stared in disbelief.

I wasn't me.

My mind was still there, but this was not my body.

I was in James Potters body!

-----

_James' POV_

I woke up feeling relaxed and refreshed. I stretched my arms above my head and arched my back. My parents both joke that I look like a cat when I do this.

I smile and rolled over, intent on looking out my window. I did this every morning. No matter how I felt, looking outside always made me content and relaxed.

_Smack!_

My eyes shot open and I sat up in surprise as I literally rolled myself out of bed.

I stopped and looked at my surroundings in horror.

_This wasn't my room!_

I jumped up to get a better look at this… room.

It was disgusting and dirty. There was one grime smeared window in what appeared to be a kitchen and three black doors, only one of which was open. A light shined from the open doorway leading to what looked like a small, cramped bedroom, with one small bed shoved up against the wall and a bunch of clothes piled on what looked like, from here, a green crate. The closed door next to it sounded like it led to a bathroom, though it was hard to tell with the lack of light; I could hear the sound of a shower running. The last door must lead outside.

The sound of the shower stopped and I could hear movement from behind the closed door. I crouched down into a defensive pose, my hand automatically reaching for my wand, which I usually kept in my back pocket. My hand came back empty.

The door opened and a tall, muscular man came out, stopping when he saw me by the couch.

He grinned at me, which scared me for a moment. He obviously knew me, but I had no idea who he was.

"Great, you're finally up!" He was obviously happy, and I began to wonder just why he was talking to me so friendly-like. "Hurry up and have breakfast and get dressed. We can go and have a look at the houses I picked out."

Without waiting for an answer he turned and disappeared into the small bedroom, closing the door behind him.

I stood there in shock. Who was this strange man, and why was I buying a house with him?

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I got dressed in record time, not bothering to look at what I chucked on, and left the safety of the bedroom, stepping out into the unknown.

I entered into a cosy, but long, hallway. There were a number of doors leading off the hallway, but the sound of talking and laughter came from below. I followed the sounds and found myself at the top of a large staircase. The laughter was getting louder.

I considered going back and hiding under the bed or something, anywhere away from this weird place where I'm not me anymore, I'm James Potter.

"James!" A voice called boisterously from my left and I almost ignored it, not used to being called anything other than Amalia. "James! Over here!" The voice called again.

I walked carefully over to what looked like a lavish, again large, dining room.

_This whole house must be huge,_ I thought to myself absentmindedly.

"Come on James, lunch is ready," a middle aged lady said, patting the spot next to her.

I kept waiting for everyone to start laughing at me and telling me this was some sort of cruel joke.

"Uhh… I'm not very hungry," I stammered.

The lady smiled kindly and nodded in understanding. "You don't have to eat anything, at least join us for lunch."

I sat down at the offered chair and observed the three occupants of the table. There was Sirius, sitting across from me, giving me a look that clearly said he thought I was off my rocker. The middle aged lady sat on my right, talking softly with a middle aged man across from her. Looking at this man I did not have a doubt that this was James' father, making the lady James' mother. His father looked exactly liked him, except for the glasses; he must have got that from his mother.

Lunch went slowly for me, as everyone seemed intent on taking it slowly, drawing out the conversations for as long as possible. I didn't say one word during the whole time, something which was not overlooked by James' parents.

Soon enough I was allowed to leave and I did so gratefully, noticing the glances that Sirius shared with James, my, parents. I decided that I only had two options; I could tell Sirius now what had obviously happened and get his help at figuring it out, or I could send an owl to James, I mean myself.

I decided to try to owl James first and then hopefully I wouldn't need to tell Sirius anything. It would be less awkward this way, I decided.

I cleared my throat and looked at Sirius, realising for the first time that I was able to look him in the eye without craning my neck.

"Where's my owl?" I asked, not wanting to point out just how lost I was.

He didn't say anything, just changed course and led me into a small alcove just off the main room, which I immediately saw had been made specifically for owls.

"Oh…"

He walked over to sit on a small chair in the corner of the room and watched me as I hunted around for a Quill and paper.

"Looking for this?" he asked, holding up exactly what I was looking for.

I nodded and went to snatch it from him, but he held it behind his back.

"Not until you tell me what's going on," he said sneakily.

"There's nothing going on," I snapped, suddenly annoyed.

"I don't believe you, and I also know you, you won't hold out for long, especially when Remus gets here."

My stomach flip-flopped but I just scoffed at him, grabbing the Quill and paper from him.

"Who are you writing to," he asked as I bent over the paper, writing a hurried note to James, asking for his help.

"No one," I muttered.

I folded the finished note and almost ran over to the owl perches and stopped. There were four owls currently sitting on there, and there was no way to tell which was the one I needed.

I glanced over my shoulder at Sirius and he grinned at me, obviously knowing what my trouble was.

"Uhh…"

"Scratch," he called, and a brown and white owl hopped down from the perch, landing in front of me and stretching his foot out to accept the note. I quickly tied the note on and bent down to whisper my instructions. I saw Sirius out the corner of my eye lean forward to hear better.

"Take this to James, I mean Amalia," I told him. He didn't move, just sat there watching me.

I growled in frustration. "Take this note to Amalia, who is really James because I am the real Amalia, even though I look like James."

The bird shot me a look, clearly thinking I was weird, and few out the near by window.

I turned around to see Sirius looking at me in shock. I thought for a moment he must have heard what I'd said, but it turns out he only heard one word.. "Amalia?"

"Uhh…"

He glared at me and crossed his arms over his chest, settling back in the chair.

"Okay James, this has gone far enough. Ever since you've woken up today you've been acting strangely and we're not going anywhere until you tell me what's what!"

I paused to think for a moment, there had to be a way out of this. All I had to do was hide until I got a reply from James. Without any warning I sprinted for the door and ran as fast as I could for the front door. I could hear Sirius jump up after me, sending the chair flying, and I knew I was going to have to try harder.

I grabbed the door handle, a sixth sense telling me that Sirius was about to get me. Shoving away from the door, and causing Sirius to crash into it, I ran for the dining room, remembering the door I'd seen in there.

I ran into the dining room, sprinting for the door at the far end of the room. James' father saw me coming and jumped up to open it, grabbing his wife as he did so, getting her out of harms way. I flew out the door and immediately changed direction, aiming for the front of the house. I'd seen trees in that direction, somewhere for me to hide!

I heard Sirius running behind me and I was surprised to find I was holding my own.

_It must be the whole being a guy_, I decided briefly.

I ran around the corner of the front of the house, sprinting for all my worth, aiming for the trees I could see in the distance. I barrelled past Remus, who had seen us coming and grabbed what appeared to be his mother out of the way.

"After him!" Sirius yelled, sounding closer than before.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Remus drop a kiss on his mothers cheek and take off after Sirius. I gritted my teeth and tried to run faster.

As I neared the trees I began to feel triumphant, a tad too soon. Before I knew it I felt something hit me like a speeding truck and I went down.

I grunted as something else landed on me, holding my legs down. I was flipped over and I looked up, dazed, into the faces of Sirius and a confused looking Remus.

"Nice try," Sirius snapped. "Now I'll ask you again, what's going on?"

"N…"

"Don't say nothing, I know there's something."

Remus butted in then. "Guys, what's going on?"

Sirius answered before I could say something, explaining to him what had gone on this morning up until this time.

Remus looked surprised then confused, finally shrugging and they turned back to me.

"Okay James, spill it," Sirius growled.

"It's not James," I answered, realising I was fighting a losing battle.

"What?" They both looked at me blankly.

"I'm not James, I'm Amalia."

They continued to look at me blankly and I sighed.

"Look, I went to bed last night in my apartment and when I woke up this morning I was here, in James' body."

Sirius jerked off me, going red briefly, and knocking Remus off my legs.

"Uhhh…" This time it was his turn to be unsure of what to say.

I sat up awkwardly, rubbing my knees where they'd skidded across the grass.

"That's why I was sending an owl to James, I mean, Amalia," I pointed out, frowning. I had no idea what to call anyone.

Remus nodded sagely.

"This is probably a result of Sirius and Peter's potion. Neither of you have slept since you drank it, so most likely you 'switched' when you both went to sleep. And something _had_ to be wrong with that potion, it looked disgusting."

_That makes sense_, I thought.

"So what do we do?" I asked Remus, ignoring Sirius. He sat there staring at me funnily, like he couldn't figure something out.

"I have a few ideas," he said. "I think the best think to do would be to find James and keep you two together. We could probably organise for him to stay here for a while, maybe even the holidays, as long as it takes to figure out how to swap you two back. You'll have to ask his parents though, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind." He smiled at me confidently.

I felt bad for a moment, realising I would be leaving Bryan on his own over Christmas, but then again he'll probably work that day anyway.

"Okay then, first step, we'll organise for him to come here," I said.

Sirius nodded, jumping up so suddenly it looked like he'd sat on a pin.

"I'll do the talking," he said, already heading for the house.

Remus smiled to himself and followed Sirius' retreating back.

I jumped up and jogged after them.

-----

We sat outside the apartment I shared with my brother. I felt embarrassed to show them where I lived, but brightened when I remembered we were moving out of here, hopefully into a better place.

I glanced at Sirius out the corner of my eye. He hadn't said anything to me since we left the Potter house, after getting permission for 'Amalia' to stay over. I'd felt guilty after we tried to ask for her, me, to stay, and but neither one of them had fallen for our lies. I'd finally explained what we think had happened and they had been much more understanding about the situation, telling us they'd try to work out a solution while we picked 'Amalia' up. They had also told us Bryan could stay over as well if he liked, but I knew he wouldn't feel comfortable enough.

We'd been waiting outside the apartment for nearly four hours now and the sky was beginning to darken. I looked up as a car pulled into the car park, immediately recognising Bryans bomb of a car.

I jumped up, waving to get their attention. I saw my body nearly throw itself out the car and come sprinting over.

"Sirius! Remus! Uh… me!" It said.

I almost started laughing, this was by far the weirdest situation I'd ever been in.

Remus smiled as Bryan came over.

"Hello sir, my name is Remus Lupin," he said as he stuck his hand out for Bryan to shake. I could see the surprise in Bryan's eyes as he shook Remus' hands. "This here is James Potter and Sirius Black."

Bryan nodded slyly. "Yes, I recognise you," he said, addressing Sirius.

I cleared my throat, knowing that I would have to put this delicately, so that his Big Brother instincts wouldn't come out in full force.

"Amalia and I have to complete an assignment for school, it's pretty involved, and I was wondering if she would like to stay over my house for a while, to get it out the way."

Bryan paused to consider my request.

"How long?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, it's a big project so it could take a while. It will probably take all holidays," I winced as I realised this could bite me back if we figure this out quickly and I was stuck with James and Sirius all holidays.

Bryan looked down at Amalia. "Well I wouldn't mind, I'm working over Christmas so I won't be home for a lot of the time, but it's up to her really."

We all looked at Amalia, waiting for her response.

"That'd be great!" She said happily.

-----

It had taken us less than fifteen minutes to pack 'Amalia's' stuff and another twenty to get back to the Potters house.

We sat in the living room, Sirius, Remus, James, James' parents and me. We'd decided to set some ground rules, and the parents were there so that everything stayed diplomatic, and also to explain how they were going with a potion to swap us back. They had told us that at the worst we'd have to do is stay this way until we got back to school and Professor Slughorn could swap us back.

The main problem we could think of was having a shower. How were we supposed to have them without seeing anything? The solution, suggested by Mrs Potter, had been to give us each sleeping masks, which covered our eyes enough so that we could have a shower without seeing anything, but we were still able to do various things without killing ourselves in the process.

There had been a number of other little problems, but nothing too hard to handle. No one had been able to think of many things to worry about off the top of their heads, so we decided to deal with them as they came.

-----

I laid down in James' bed that night, exhausted from the events of that day. I could hear the faint sound of voices from the room next door, and I knew Remus, James and Sirius were in there talking. I actually felt kinda left out.

I felt a funny little twinge in my stomach and I shifted uncomfortably, settling back on the bed when it disappeared.

I remembered the look on Sirius face when he realised who I really was. He'd suddenly looked horrified. He hadn't talked directly to me since that moment, always looking at Remus, no matter who he was addressing. He wouldn't look at either me or James.

The twinge came back with stunning ferocity and I jumped out of bed, still deep in my own thoughts as I began pacing around the room, which seemed to relieve the twinge.

I began to walk faster and faster around the room until I was almost running, but the twinge wouldn't go away. It was persistent and I came out of my thought and began to jump up and down on the spot, squeezing my legs together.

I realised just what my new problem was and I ran for the next room.

I banged on the door, never letting up until it was suddenly wrenched open by an annoyed looking Sirius. I could see James and Remus sitting on the ground by the bed.

"What?" He snapped.

"James!" I cried. "I need the toilet!"

They all stopped and stared at me.

"What?"

I sighed, annoyed.

"I don't know how to go to the toilet," I explained. "And I need to go. Now!"

I saw my eyes go wide and he jumped up, grabbing my arm and sprinting me down the hallway. I kept pace with him easily, what with my new manly legs.

He shoved me into the bathroom, in the general direction of the toilet and slammed the door behind me.

I turned around and tried to open the door. "I don't know how to do it," I wailed.

I could hear the three of them talking behind the door and it suddenly swung open. I could seem Sirius and Remus standing behind James. The former looked disgusted and extremely annoyed, the latter looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Okay, I'll… I'll help you," James said, looking embarrassed.

I went bright red and put one hand over my eyes. I couldn't believe this was happening to me.

He led me over to the toilet and lifted the seat up. "Okay the first thing you've gotta do is…"

I cut him off. "I don't want to know how. I don't need to know how. I won't ever need to know how. When I have children I _won't_ be teaching them this, my husband will do all that work."

I heard a shout of laughter from behind the closed bathroom door. It seemed I'd finally pushed Remus off the edge.

James nodded and pushed me forward so I stood right up against the toilet bowl.

I closed my eyes as James pulled my pants and jocks down and helped me aim.

I couldn't hold it any longer, no matter how embarrassed I was, I needed to go.

I sighed as I released a whole days worth of liquid but kept my eyes closed. I didn't want to see anything I didn't want to see.

James coughed awkwardly, still helping me to aim and I could hear Remus gasping for breath outside the door.

Finally I was done. James helped me finish up and we both scrubbed out hands until they were raw.

When we finally exited the bathroom we both glared at Remus, still gasping for breath, but Sirius was nowhere to be seen. I felt sad suddenly, but shook it off in annoyance.

I looked at James, me, awkwardly.

"Night," we both said and disappeared into our bedrooms.

-----

**A/N:** Woohoo! Done already! I'm so proud! Hehe

I know, this has been done lots of times before but I wanted to have a go… so I did :D Hope it worked! And it's not done yet, the chapter got too bit so I split into two!

Thanks everyone for the reviews!


	11. Menstrual Cycle

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Eleven: **Menstrual Cycle

_Amalia's POV_

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and relaxed. I stretched my arms above my head and let out a groan of content.

My eyes flew open and everything came flooding back.

I was James Potter

I shook my head, I'd forgotten all about that little fact, but, shrugging, there wasn't a lot I could do.

I decided that now was as good a time as any to get up; I was feeling fairly hungry, and now that I understood what was going on I felt I could safely eat something.

When I reached the dining room I found Remus and Sirius already seated and half way through their breakfast. I took one look at the food on offer and dug in, suddenly feeling that I'd never be able to be full again.

Remus began to laugh as he watched me stuff my face, so I glared at him. I saw Sirius do the same thing as he angled himself away from me.

Half an hour later I finished my third, and final, helpings of breakfast, actually beating Sirius and Remus. We sat back in our chairs and relaxed, waiting for James to turn up.

"So, what are you doing here anyway Remus?" I asked, realising I'd never asked him yesterday.

"I usually stay here for the first week of holidays or so, then go home for… Christmas, and then come back for the rest of the holidays." Remus smiled.

I nodded in understanding.

"What about you?" I looked at Sirius and he looked back at me. "Why are you here? And why did you call Mrs. Potter mum?" Remembering when he'd called her 'Mum' when he'd woken me up yesterday.

"I live here," he said curtly.

"Oh…" I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

Remus stared at Sirius reprovingly but he didn't acknowledge him.

I felt hurt building up in my chest as I looked down at my empty plate, annoyed at how his comment had affected me. We were saved from our awkward silence at the arrival of James, as he tripped through the door way and barely saved himself from falling headlong onto the floor.

He jumped up and glared at me. In my annoyance I glared right back at him.

"I hate being a girl!" He declared. "You sleep late, and your body is so… soft! And you get funny pains all over your body! And you're clumsy! And short! And slow!"

"Well I hate being a guy!" I snapped back. "You wake up too early and you eat lots! Your stomach is a bottom less pit! It's hard to pee standing up! I can't seem to do anything without hitting myself in your family jewels!"

I noticed at my last point all three of them turned very pale and instinctively covered their lower anatomy.

"Well on the plus side, I can get close and personal with…"

"Oi!" I glared at him. "You leave those alone!"

He didn't answer me, instead sitting down at the table and grabbing a piece of toast from a nearby plate. He was lucky to have anything; we'd eaten nearly all of it before he'd gotten here. He ate less than half the piece of toast before declaring that he was full.

"Look," I cleared my throat. "I just wanted to say…" The three of them looked at me carefully. "… that we will _never_ speak of what happened last night ever again." I stared at the three in turn until they nodded, almost reluctantly.

"Okay, now that that's cleaned up…"

-----

Each day passed much the same as the first day, and before we knew it a whole week had passed and we were still stuck in our not-so-new bodies. I was beginning to fear that I'd be stuck here forever, and I didn't want to be stuck as a guy _forever_.

Throughout my time here James had also constantly badgered me about acting like a girl. I'd reminded him that _I was a girl_, but he still didn't like it when he saw me reading or heard me laughing and being understanding with his mother, usually about girly things.

Thankfully though the week had passed without any other incident and we had fallen into a regular routine. Today was the last day of Remus' stay, at least until after Christmas and Bryan had come round the previous day to drop his present off for 'Amalia'.

Sirius had, slowly, begun acting more like his old self. James told me that it had been because he'd freaked out realising the girl he fancied was now in his best friends body, and that his best friend was now in the body of the girl he fancied, so technically, no matter how he looked at it he fancied his best friend. I soon found out I had a small case of selective hearing.

What I'd heard was "Sirius had been because he'd freaked out realising the girl he ... was now in his best friend's body and that his best friend was now in the body of the girl he ..."

I liked my newly acquired gift.

James had also told us what had happened on his first day.

----- -----

_James' POV_

I looked in the bathroom mirror in horror.

_Amalia?_

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes; surely this was all one big, horrible, dream. But when I opened them again Amalia's face still stared back at me.

A knock sounded on the bathroom door.

"Come on 'Mali, we've gotta go. What's taking so long?" The big, muscular guy sounded impatient.

"_Oh well you see, I'm not Amalia, my name's James Potter and this isn't my body_!"

I decided to keep my thoughts to myself.

I left the safety of the bathroom and followed Mr Muscular out the, what I found out was a, apartment and into the nearby bomb of a car. My dad had told me about these when I was younger. I was just a little less ignorant than Sirius about the Muggle way of life.

I sat next to Mr Muscular, barely glancing out the window; I wasn't use to this mode of transportation, and began to wonder just who this guy was, and how he knew Amalia.

I studied him out the corner of my eye as he begun to sing along to the radio. I noticed some similarities to Amalia in the eye shape and hair colour and guessed that this was some relation to her.

Possibly a brother.

I thought on that. If she was living with her brother then her parents were most likely deceased.

I began to feel sad, thinking back on the horrible conditions that they lived in; the grotty apartment, the bomb of a car. But they, he, was looking for a new house, so obviously things were getting a bit better, a bit easier.

I grinned, beginning to feel excited. Truth be told I was beginning to see Amalia in a different light; she wasn't just one of Lily's friends, the girl had attitude. It was good I liked her. If Sirius' plans worked then I'll probably be seeing her much more often.

I laughed, earning a strange look from Mr Muscular, as I picturing the look on Sirius' face if he knew what had happened, that I wasn't me anymore.

Sighing, I realised that I'd most likely have to tell Sirius about Amalia's living conditions. I hoped that she wouldn't mind, but this was something that I think he needed to know.

-----

Nearly six hours later we'd been over each house that Bryan, it had taken me a while to figure out how to get his name, had picked out twice and we'd finally settled down on a small two bed roomed, spacious cottage, situated on the edge of the city, with a great view of a surrounding forest. I had a pretty good idea that Amalia would like this place, though I doubted that she'd stay there for long.

----- -----

_Amalia's POV_

I laid back on the grass in the Potters backyard and stared up at the sky. White fluffy clouds rolled across the sky at a calm pace and I lost myself in trying to find out what shapes they resembled.

Sirius and Remus were lounging on a couple of lawn chairs and James had disappeared inside a couple of minutes ago, after throwing a small tantrum. He'd been complaining about pains all day, but I hadn't been listening.

Sirius, for the past two days, had been needling James about his current situation and James wasn't taking it too well. Sirius had left me alone, mainly, I think, because I could hurt him if I wanted to, and presumably because he didn't want to have to hurt, technically, a girl.

After one particular joke James had jumped up, tears in his eyes, and begun shrieking obscene at Sirius. Remus and Sirius had sat there shocked as James began to list everything he hated in the world. He had turned to leave when Sirius really put his foot in it, saying something about the freaky emotions of girls. James had stopped and turned back to Sirius with a evil glint in his teary eyes. With one last shriek he had ditched a shoe he'd picked up off the ground at him and run away crying. The shoe flew off in the opposite direction, away from Sirius, nearly smashing a small window in the house.

Sirius and Remus just sat there with their mouths open until the sounds of James' sobbing had faded. Since then they'd sat silently on their chairs, pale, with unfocused eyes.

"_Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…"_

A piercing scream ran through the air, startling Sirius and Remus out of their seats and the three of us bolted into the house. We were met with the confused and worried gazes of Mr and Mrs Potter.

"What happened?" Remus asked.

"We're not sure." Mr Potter shook his head.

"_Aahhhhhh_"

Another scream shook the house and we ran upstairs, stopping outside the bathroom.

Mrs Potter began knocking insistently on the door.

"Honey, are you alright?" She asked, worried.

The sound of someone sobbing came from behind the door.

A feeling of horror began to build up and I looked at Remus frantically.

"Uh, Remus, what's the date?"

"The twenty-second, why?" He looked at me like I was crazy.

"I, uh, may know what's wrong," I told him slowly.

Mr and Mrs Potter had been listening to our conversation and realization dawned on their faces. Mr Potters face split into a grin, obviously thinking this whole situation was hilarious, while Mrs Potter bit her lip and looked at the bathroom door worriedly. Sobs could still be heard from inside. Sirius and Remus just looked at us like we were crazy. They obviously hadn't had the "Growth and Development" talk.

"What's wrong with him?" Sirius asked as the sobbing began to get louder. "Why in the world is he crying? And screaming?"

"Boys, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Amalia you can stay here to help me, just in case." She looked at the three of them sternly until they moved down the hallway and disappeared down the stairs.

She smiled calmly at me as she used her wand to unlock the bathroom door. I braced myself for what we might see inside then visibly relaxed. James was sitting in the middle of the large, spacious bath, hugging his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth.

"Honey," Mrs Potter began and James started, obviously unaware that we'd broken into his hide out.

Without warning he lunged at his mother and flung his arms around her neck.

"Mum! I don't know what's happening to me! I'm bleeding, and I can't stop crying, and I'm feeling very girly and… I could really go for some chocolate right now." He looked pitifully up at his mother.

"It's okay honey, this is all perfectly normal, for girls at any rate."

"But what's wrong with me?"

"Uh, you have what we usually call, in simple terms, a Period."

"A what?" He asked blankly.

"A Period."

"What's that?" He sounded terrified of this one word.

"It's where… well females, most of them, will bleed, out their…"

His eyes went wide and he involuntary looked down. His mother nodded.

"Yes. They, well we, first get this in our early teens, some earlier some later, and we have them for almost all our life. So we tend to get use to the routine."

His mouth went wide and he looked disgusted. "Ugh! Why!?!"

"Well," she said carefully. "Before each Period women go through their menstrual cycle. During this time it is possible for a woman to conceive a baby."

Understanding dawned on James', my, face, but he still looked disgusted.

"Mum! It hurts, make it stop," he whined.

"Well, I can't really do that. It will finish in a couple of days. Until then there are certain ways to… make sure the blood doesn't… go everywhere. There are a number of objects that Muggles use, but wizards have a spell that they can cast instead."

James grinned, obviously pleased, and visibly relaxed.

"The spell is _Subsisto Period_, so if you want to say that."

James nodded and grabbed his, my, wand and cast the spell on himself. He frowned for a moment then grinned, obviously aware that the bleeding had stopped.

He looked up at his mum uncertainly for a moment. She grinned down at him, raising her eyebrows in encouragement.

"… Can you make the pain go away?" He asked softly. "And the constant need to cry?"

We both began laughing and his mother shook her head. "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about that, just don't throw any more shoes around."

Mrs Potter and I left the bathroom and slowly went downstairs, leaving James to clean himself up. She smiled ruefully.

"That has got to be one of the most awkward moments of my life," she told me. I just grinned back at her.

-----

Remus left two days later and Christmas passed uneventfully. Sirius had caught onto what had happened, but thankfully hadn't paid James out too much. Remus came back over a couple of days after Christmas, ready to stay for the rest of the holidays, along with Peter, who'd gone on a brief holiday for the first part of the holidays.

We had one week left of the holidays when Mr Potter came home Sunday night, holding a small vial triumphantly. He burst into the living room where we'd all been relaxing, playing a game of cards, and shook it around, shouting gleefully.

"It's your lucky day!" He cried. Mrs Potter came in from outside, where she'd been doing one last bit of gardening, and smiled happily at her husband, giving him a small kiss on the mouth in greeting.

A part of me, the newly-acquired-and-soon-to-thankfully-lost guy part, cringed at this open display of affection, while the girl side of me smiled happily and thought how sweet it was and how cute they were together. The girl side won. I looked at James to see him in the same fight I was, and with one final grimace, showed just which side had won.

"What is it honey?" She asked.

"The solution!" He grinned at the occupants of the room, awaiting our reactions.

James jumped up and lunged for the vial, but his small form stopped way sort of the goal and he just landed in a heap at his fathers' feat. I jumped up just as happily but stayed where I was.

"Okay, now if I read the instructions correctly all you have to do is swallow a small mouthful and go to sleep. When you wake up you should be back in your own bodies. The guy who made this for me was a bit unsure if it would work, especially considering just how bad Sirius and Peter's potion had obviously been, what with it originally suppose to be a strengthening solution, but he figured a simple reversal potion should do the trick."

He handed the vial to me. "Ladies first."

I grinned and drank a small mouthful. I'd been slightly worried that this potion would taste as bad as Sirius and Peter's, but it actually tasted quite nice. I handed the vial to James and sat back down. James finished off the vial and handed it back to his father.

"Now, don't get your hopes up," his father said. "It may or may not work."

We both nodded, already focusing back on the game.

I decided that I'd go to bed as soon as this game finishes.

The game finished a good three and a half hours later.

I crawled into bed and curled up on my side, relaxed, ready to slip into a deep sleep.

-----

When I woke up I immediately felt a difference. My eyes shot open and I looked around the room. I was in a different room, not James' lavish bedroom. I threw back the bed covers and looked down at my body in happiness. _I had my body back_.

I jumped out of bed and began to do a dance around the room. I heard the door open and turned to see James launch himself into the room.

I let out a shriek and he grabbed me in a bear hug.

"Oh it's good to be back," he said and ran back out the room.

I let out another shriek and jumped around a bit more.

Turning towards the door I froze, like a deer caught in headlamps. Sirius stood in the doorway, his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

I'd never noticed until then just how handsome Sirius actually was. He wore lose fitting black pants and a light coloured grey t-shirt, which brought out the grey of his eyes. His black hair fell naturally around his eyes, which were watching me in amusement.

"Er… hi," I said awkwardly.

"You've switched back?" He asked.

I nodded and began to fiddle with the edge of my nightshirt. I'd never realised until now just how revealing the shirt was, or ow clingy, and I had to fight the urge to drag it down as far as it would stretch, trying to cover some of my legs.

He smiled as he pushed off from the door frame and sauntered into the room. I watched as his eyes travelled down my body, taking everything in, and a blush began to build up on my cheeks.

"I'm glad," he whispered as he stopped less than a food from me and stared into my eyes so intently I found I couldn't look away.

I took a ragged breath and broke our eye contact, looking down at the ground, studying his sneakers.

He chuckled.

"I wanted to ask you something," he said so quietly I had to lean forward to hear him.

"Yes?" I whispered back.

"That place we went to to pick James up, was that really where you lived?"

I felt acute pain rip through my chest. So I was going to be judged.

I nodded, unable to say anything.

He nodded back slowly then smiled crookedly. "James told us about it, about your family, and also about your new house. I just wanted to let you know… I didn't care."

Without another word he turned and disappeared out the room, leaving me speechless.

-----

The rest of the holidays went by quickly, and I was stunned to realise I was actually having fun. We spent the whole last week completing the various assignments we'd put off earlier, and with Remus' encouragement we'd even gotten slightly ahead.

Sirius hadn't said anything else to me about that moment in my room and had instead gone back to being the jokester, though still maintaining his watchfulness. He always seemed to have a small, secretive, smile on his face, the type that sent the butterflies in my stomach into overdrive.

-----

The day to return to school had arrived and I sat alone in the compartment I'd snagged. We'd arrived late and in the hustle and bustle of the train platform I'd lost my companions and had been unable to find any of my friends.

I stared unseeingly outside the window as the countryside rolled by, until I heard a distinctive bark like laugh. The laughter was getting closer and I had no doubt who it was, or where they were heading.

The door opened with a snap and Sirius and his friend stood framed in the door way.

"Good work!" James cried, pushing past Sirius and settling in the seat across from me. "We couldn't find a free compartment anywhere."

Remus and Sirius stopped long enough to put their trunks on the racks and then took their seats, Sirius sitting next to me, Remus across from him and Peter next to Remus.

The door had barely closed when it opened again and this time my friends stood framed in the doorway.

"We've been looking for you forever!" Lily cried but stopped when she saw my companions. She shrugged and grinned and they all squished themselves into the compartment.

It was almost like the last train ride we'd taken, except James and I were more coherent this time around.

Lily began chatting to Remus about their Prefect roles and the compartment was soon filled with laughter.

I smiled; I didn't have anything to say so I looked back out the window.

"So Sirius, whatever happened to Meggin?" Rebecca's asked over the loud dim. The room seemed to quieten down for a moment as we all waited Sirius' answer; I could feel my stomach tighten so much it hurt to breathe. My hand that I was resting on my knee clenched so much the skin stretched white over my knuckles.

"Who's Meggin?" He laughed and the room went back to it's original noise level.

I breathed a small sigh of relief but jerked when I felt something grab my fist.

I looked over at Sirius to see him looking down at my hand, which he held between both of his. Following his gaze I watched as he slowly massaged my hand, softening it up and opening the fist I'd made. He stopped for a moment and I compared our hands. There were a few major differences. Mine were tiny compared to his, and startlingly pale. His were large, his fingers long and slender, and he actually had a slight tan. I looked at the scar that ran across the back of his hand and used my other hand to trace it softly. It was faded and smooth, obviously not a recent acquisition.

He chuckled softly and rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand he held between his hands.

"I'll get you this time, Little One," he said.

-----

**A/N:** Yay! Well it's done. Hope you all like it and it's up to scratch. I wasn't sure how to end it, but what better way to end it than with a challenge?

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed! And to use the new quote I got from **X'andirth**:

"Save an Author! Leave a Review"


	12. Thunderstorm's

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia. Nor do I own that quote I use later from whatever book I got it from (actually I think it was two different books, but I honestly can't remember what).

-----

**Chapter Twelve: **Thunderstorm's

My eyes narrowed I stared at them as they got off the train. Her hair blew in the wind and she was laughing at something he had just said. I'd heard her friends talking, they weren't exactly subtle; she liked him; he liked her, but she wouldn't get him.

I felt hatred bubble up inside me as he smiled down at her, his hand catching a stray lock of hair and moving it behind her ear, causing her to blush and hurry off, after her friends.

I saw the smile on his face as he watched her walk away, saw the laughter that shook his frame at something his friend had said, and saw one final wistful glance in her direction as he got into one of the carriages.

I knew I was going to have to do something about this. I smiled grimly, not noticing the looks I got from that smile; yes I would definitely have to do something about her.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

The first week back went by in a flurry of assignment, homework and the start of extreme exam revision. Up until then the teachers had only mildly 'suggested' that we do some revision, but now it was a whole different ball game. At the end of _every_ lesson we were being told to do revision for this or that exam, and on top of that we were being piled with mountain loads of homework. At this time I was extremely glad that Remus had insisted that we get ahead during the holidays. It gave me time to gather my thoughts if the work load became too much.

On the plus side it also gave me reason enough to avoid Sirius, whether I wanted to or not. He had begun to act very strange. That was the only way to put it. It was almost as if he was studying everything I did and memorizing it, ready to use it later should he need to. I hadn't spoken directly to any of them since the train ride back to school, it was just too busy, so I had no inkling of what was going on. But every time I saw him I got this strange feeling in my stomach, my hands would shake, and I couldn't keep a coherent thought in my head.

I bit my lip and frowned. I was allowing myself to hope, and in my opinion that wasn't a good thing. Too much hope, too much love, led to crushed hearts and ruined lives.

I sat underneath a tall tree out on the Hogwarts grounds, and began to read a book Rose had given to me a number of months ago, which I'd promptly shoved under my bed, never to be seen again… or so I thought. I hadn't got far before I gave up.

"…_but he just smiled that sexy, crooked smile and his eyes twinkled mischievously under the firm, arching brows… His face was more angular, more imposing than she remembered and those steel grey eyes were as cold as the Scottish ocean on a winter's day…"_

I threw the book down in disgust, this was complete and utter rubbish. I couldn't believe I was reading this stuff. I mean... geez! Come on! The title in itself should have warned me, '_Desires Revenge_', but of course Rose had insisted and I just couldn't say no... and to think she seemed so innocent.

She'd lent me one of her _romance_ books, in a not-so-subtle way of telling me that I needed something, someone, in my life. But everyone knew that there was little to no truth in these books; there was no such thing as a happy ending. This was why I couldn't allow for any hope.

I sighed and shifted my focus out over the Great Lake. I could see the castle through the few trees that stood on the other side of the lake. It was peaceful and quiet, with no one but me around, mainly because of the weather; it was cold and it looked like it was going to rain any second now.

I picked the book back up, brushed off the dirt that had gotten on it when I'd thrown it to the ground and put it back into my bag. The cold was beginning to get to me, sitting in the shadows under this tree, so I began the trek back to school.

I stepped out into a small patch of sun that shone down from the sky after it finally found a gap in the grey clouds above. I stopped to let the sun warmed me briefly before pushing on.

Abruptly thunder cracked right above me and in the distance I saw lightening shoot across the sky. I wasn't in the mood to get wet, or possibly catch a cold, so I began a mad dash for the school entrance hall. I wasn't anywhere close when the skies opened up and let the downpour begin. I stopped running, realising that there was just no point; I was already soaked to the skin.

The feeling that I felt whenever Sirius was around returned to me and I dropped my bag on the ground; I suddenly felt relaxed and happy. I began to spin around on the spot, throwing my arms wide and my head back. I laughed as one of my feet caught the other foot, and I fell backwards onto the ground.

I grinned as I lay on the wet ground, letting the rain fall on my face and closed my eyes. For some reason the rain wasn't at all cold, it was warm and nice. I lay there for an indefinite amount of time, soaking in the warm rain and the strange happiness I felt.

My eyes snapped open as the rain stopped suddenly, and yet I could still hear it. I looked up to see a tall figure standing above me, their face hidden by the shadow of the umbrella they held above me.

I could feel my face heating up in embarrassment and I hastily stood up, fumbling with my bag.

I turned back to the stranger and stopped. It wasn't a stranger; it was Michael, a sixth year Ravenclaw, and he was laughing at me.

My mouth dropped open and I stared at him in shock, rivers of water making their way down my face. If it was any more possible I felt more embarrassed that before when I thought it was a stranger.

"Uh…" I stuttered, looking down at my feet, risking one more glance at him. He was still grinning at me.

"Having fun?" He asked.

"Well… yeah, I was," I said in a rare act of boldness.

"I hope I didn't ruin your fun."

"No no," I hurried to correct him. "I was planning on getting up anyway."

He smiled down at me and I felt a surge of butterflies in my stomach, the butterflies I normally associated with Sirius. He really was kinda cute, with bright blonde hair and sparkling baby-blue eyes, and he was sweet with a soft spoken voice that just made your insides tremble. I haven't ever talked to him much, apart from the odd hello if we ever passed each other in the hall way, so I wasn't sure what to say.

"Why don't we get inside before you get any wetter, if that's possble?" He suggested, still holding the umbrella above my head, and began to lead the way back into the school.

We entered the entrance hall and Michael looked down at me with an odd look on his face.

"I was wondering…" He began, but breaking off.

"About what?" I asked curiously.

"Well… I've liked you for awhile now, though I don't think you've noticed, and… well… I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me… um, sometime?" He took a deep breath at the end, going red around the ears.

He said it all so fast I stared at him blankly for a moment until what he'd asked sank in.

"I… sure!"

"Great! Well, everyone knows that there's a ball coming up, sometime around Easter, so we could go together, if you'd like?"

I chuckled silently to myself at that; no matter how hard they tried, the Prefects hadn't been able to keep the Easter Ball a secret for very long. It was the biggest news the school had this year.

"I'd love to!" I said happily, causing a look of relief to cross his face.

Without another word he disappeared down the stairs. I stayed where I was for a moment, letting it all sink in. I grinned and with a small little giggle I ran up the stairs; I couldn't wait to tell my friends.

In my excitement I didn't see either of the two faces that watched our departure; one in triumph and one in anger.

-----

I sat down next to Sirius in Charm, not bothering to hide the grin that seemed to be permanently stuck to my face. It didn't bother me, much, that none of my friends have been overly happy about this development, or that I hadn't seen Sirius or his friends since I'd started to date Michael.

We'd been dating for nearly five weeks now, and it had passed in one big blur. I couldn't remember ever being this happy, and my friends' attitudes couldn't change that. I felt that there was something about Michael… He was just so sweet and caring.

"Hi Sirius!" I said happily, not bothered when I didn't receive a reply.

I'd been surprised the first time it had happened and had been hurt by, not only his reaction, but everyone's reactions, but now I just let it all be. When it had first happened I'd told Michael about it and he'd said I needn't worry about it, he was sure it'll pass. It didn't stop me from being polite to him, or his friends.

Michael had said he was most probably just jealous of the happiness I had in my life and that he'd get over it.

"How was your week?" I asked, beginning to hum to myself, arranging my stuff on my desk. I didn't wait for a reply. "Isn't your birthday coming up? February 17th if I remember correctly. That's this Sunday isn't it? Are you doing anything for it? I mean, you are turning seventeen, that's an important birthday. Is there anything special you want? Though it doesn't matter, I've already done something! I usually get my friends a little special present, and I had this great idea of what to get you! But don't bother trying to find out what it is; it'll be a surprise okay? Though this only gives me a few more days to finish it, but have no fear I will complete it!"

I prattled on about his birthday and the present I'd almost finished for him until Professor Flitwick started the class. Sirius gave no indication that he heard anything I said and I trailed off.

The class passed swiftly and then we were free. I'd already planned to get all my homework done today and tomorrow morning and then spend the rest of the day working on finishing Sirius' present. Even with how awkward it was at the moment, I was confident that he'd like his present and I couldn't wait to give it to him.

I remembered, briefly, Michael's reaction when he found out I was getting Sirius a present.

----- -----

"Hey sweetie," Michael whispered, giving me a brief peck on the cheek.

I sighed and looked up at him, slightly annoyed that I couldn't get on with my task.

"Hi."

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously, looking down at the object I held in my hand.

I grinned and held it up so he could get a better look.

"It's a present I'm making for Sirius' birthday!"

He frowned, his hands on the back of the chair clenching, gripping it so hard his arms visibly shook from the strain.

"I thought he wasn't talking to you." His voice had a dark edge to it I couldn't quite name.

"I know…" My voice trailed off. "But he is, was, my friend, and I always give my friends presents for their birthday."

I smiled up at him as he glowered.

"I don't want you to," he said harshly.

I blinked, shocked.

"Why?"

"You're _my _girlfriend…"

"Yes, I know," I cut in.

He took a deep breath and shook his head, as though trying to clear it.

"Sorry," he said cheerfully. "Ignore me."

I grinned back at him and turned back to Sirius' present.

----- -----

I sighed, and then smiled, wiping that particular memory from my mind for the moment. Apart from that one black moment everything was fine. Brilliant in fact. I couldn't be happier. Really.

"Hey," Michael said, falling into step beside me and placing his arm protectively around my waist.

"Hey yourself," I said, snuggling in. "How was class?"

He shrugged but didn't say anything. "How about you?"

"Yeah it was good." I proceeded to tell him everything that happened during the lesson. When I finished I looked around us, and saw my friends at the end of the hallway, walking not too far ahead of me, talking and laughing between themselves.

I felt a pang and ducked my head. I hadn't talked to them for awhile, they were always busy or out, and if they weren't I was with Michael. In fact I hadn't talked to anyone except Michael for awhile now… Sirius didn't count, he didn't talk back; in fact I'd be surprised if he listened to me at all.

"Did you finish the present?" Michael asked.

"Not yet." I told him my plans for the weekend, noticing that he didn't seem particularly happy. "What's wrong?"

"Where am I going to fit into this?" He snapped.

I stopped and craned my neck to look up at him.

"I, well, I guess we can do something Sunday night if you want?"

He pushed away from me, causing me to stumble and almost fall. He glared at me.

"What? So I'm just an after-thought now? That's fine! I don't want to see you any way."

My mouth dropped open in shock as he stormed away in the opposite direction. I wasn't sure what to make of this. I could feel my legs shaking and I lent against the wall, sliding to the floor. I rested my head against my knees, trying to think. What did this mean? Did he just break up with me or was it just a small disagreement?

"Amalia?" I heard a voice say in shock. I knew that voice and didn't bother to look up. I felt him sit down next to me.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked, worry lacing his voice.

"Fine." My voice was muffled so I wasn't sure if he heard me or not.

He was silent for a moment

"How have you been?"

I shrugged.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

I turned my head slightly, keeping it on my knees, and looked at him, feeling confused and using this conversation to avoid thinking about what had just happened.

"Why?"

"For basically ignoring you since you started dating Michael." He looked ashamed at this admission.

I felt a sudden rush of tears and turned my head back so that he couldn't see my face. I'd been trying not to think about everyone's reactions. I guess no matter how much I pretended, it still hurt, a lot.

"That's cool," I muttered.

"No it's not!" He sounded angry. "We all feel horrible for the way we've been acting, but we've never had the chance to apologise, Michaels always been there."

"It's fine, okay? It doesn't matter," I snapped, annoyed. _Why wouldn't he just leave it alone?_

I could feel his surprise at my tone and he went silent.

"I don't believe you."

My head shot up and I stared at him incredulously but he didn't say anything else.

We sat there for what felt like hours but not once did Remus complain, sitting wordlessly next to me, until eventually the hard, cold stones I was sitting on began to get to me and I had to move.

"I'm going to the library," I told him curtly, not bothering to wait for an answer.

-----

I spent the rest of the day in the library, finishing all my homework. I was surprised how short a time it took to finish my homework, I almost wished it had taken longer; it would have kept me busy for longer.

When the library closed and Madam Pince threw me out I headed back to the common room, not paying a lot of attention to where I was going until I accidentally bumped into someone, sending my books flying.

"Sorry." I gasped and quickly started grabbing my stuff.

Who ever it was didn't say anything, just stood there. I reached over to get the last book when a foot came out of nowhere, knocking my books everywhere again. I frowned and looked up; that had been done on purpose.

Margaret stood there, smirking down at me, her hands on her hips.

"Well, if it isn't little _Amalia_," she sneered. "Clumsy aren't we?"

I stood up slowly and faced her.

"What do you want?"

"What do you think? To gloat of course."

"Gloat?" I stared at her. "About what? You have _nothing _I want." I was beginning to feel angry, a start contrast to what I'd felt earlier, and it was nice, almost like I was coming alive again.

Her face seemed to transform before my eyes and she literally hissed at me, her hands curling like claws, her face going a blotchy red. She opened her mouth to retaliate but was cut off.

"Hi Amalia, what's going on?"

I turned and saw Meggin standing behind me, staring at Margaret like she was crazy. I realised then that Meggin was more aware of what went around her than one would think; she knew exactly what had happened.

"Nothing," Margaret spat, turning on her heel and disappearing down the hallway.

Meggin chuckled and bent down to help me get my stuff back, then led me to a nearby window. Outside gusts of wind tore at the trees, trying to rip them bare.

"What was with her? She looked like she wanted to rip your face off."

I grinned; I hadn't talked to Meggin for ages, since before the Christmas holidays, and she seemed different somehow. When she'd first said we were friends I'd been worried, but she was a lot better once you got to know her, less airhead-y.

"Don't worry about that, what's up with you? You seem… different."

She laughed, throwing her head back, and did a little twirl.

"I met someone, over the holidays," she said happily. It was infectious and I couldn't stop myself from grinning back.

"Oh, do tell, and don't leave anything out," I instructed.

She spent the next twenty minutes detailing everything about her new man; she'd met him when she'd gone to visit her ailing grandmother; he was a muggle, but had an older sister who was a witch so he knew enough about our world; and he didn't expect anything from her except her to be herself. Basically he was perfect.

When she finished we lapsed into a comfortable silence, each of us off in our own little world. I began contemplating heading for the common room again, it was getting late and I'd definitely missed dinner.

"I better head back," I told her, grabbing my stuff.

She nodded and began to follow me. When we reached the end of the hallway we stopped again, I had to go right while she was heading left.

"You shouldn't worry about her," Meggin said.

I nodded; I knew she was talking about Margaret.

"It'll work out. Just don't forget who your _real friends_ are" She said solemnly before heading off.

I sighed as I reached the portrait and said the password; I do wish people would stop being so cryptic.

-----

I didn't sleep well that night. My dreams, nightmares some would say, were confusing and I couldn't sleep for more than an hour at a time. I eventually fell into an exhausted sleep sometime around seven am and slept until nearly noon. As I got dressed I saw that the room had been tidied recently and that Lily, Rose, Rebecca and Nikki had left a few hours ago.

After I'd eaten a small lunch I settled onto a small chair in the corner of the Common Room and continued working on Sirius' present. I couldn't help but feel proud of this present; he was sure to like it.

There weren't many people in the Common Room, so it was quiet and relaxing and I became absorbed in my work. I sat there for hours, just working, forgetting the world around me.

_I must be on a roll,_ I thought to myself when I finished it, but when I glanced at the clock nearby I saw that it was actually a lot later than I was expecting. I hadn't heard everyone returning from wherever they'd all disappeared but it was still quiet, the relaxed atmosphere of night time, instead of what I felt earlier. I was too comfy in my chair; I couldn't be bothered moving just yet. I put Sirius' now wrapped present into a small bag I was using to hold it and settled deep into the soft chair.

I began to feel drowsy and my head dropped, resting against my chest. Even with the exhausted sleep I'd had that morning I was still tired. I began to dream, strange dreams, dreams that confused me. There was only one constant thing about the dreams, and that was that Sirius was in each and every one of them. This confused me; where was Michael? Surely I'd dream about him, he was my boyfriend after all, or at least I thought he was.

In each dream he was always calling for me, from a distance, from the darkness, but I couldn't ever see him, find him. I was always running but his voice would fade into nothing and I was stuck in the darkness, alone and scared.

No matter how bad the dreams got I couldn't wake up. At one point it felt like I was floating. I could hear soft voices from the surrounding darkness and then they were gone and I fell into a deep sleep, where no dreams could find me.

-----

**A/N:** Not exactly where I wanted to end this chapter, and not a whole lot happened, but it was just getting too long, so I split it into two chapters instead!

Also I just couldn't work out how old Sirius would be turning, so I just said seventeen. I guess that'll do.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad you liked the last chapter!

And remember:

"Save an Author! Leave a Review"


	13. Trouble

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia. Nor do I own that quote I use later from whatever book I got it from (actually I think it was two different books, but I honestly can't remember what).

-----

**Chapter Thirteen: **Trouble

_Remus' POV_

I glared at him from my position on my bed.

"Sirius, you're being completely ridiculous about this, _do something!_"

But no matter what I, or James or Peter, said, nothing could get through him.

James stood up angrily and began to pace.

"So what? You're just going to give up? After everything that happened, it' just a 'whoops I don't like her anymore'? 'Whoops I annoyed the crap out of _everyone_ trying to get her to just look at me'? 'Whoops..."

Sirius grunted and rolled over so his back was facing us. This didn't faze James, he just moved around so he was on Sirius other side, continuing on with his list of 'Whoops...', while I stayed where I was.

"Look, just piss off already," Sirius snapped. "It's over, it'll never happen. I…"

He jumped up angrily and punched the wall. In his anger he obviously didn't feel the pain and instead started pacing the room.

"It won't happen…. She doesn't like me… She's with that git now… It doesn't matter… I just give up… But…"

"Padfoot," James said softly, knowing that using his nickname would get through to him. "You always tell me 'Never say Never', and what is it you're saying now? Fight for her! You've been confident so far that she likes you, what's changed? You said she's just denying it, what if she still is?"

James ran out of breathe and stopped.

Sirius didn't move and I wasn't sure James had gotten through to him. I began to hope as he continued to say nothing.

My heart fell when I saw him shake his head.

"No, it's… I'm with someone else now, it'll _never_ happen." He stalked out the room without another word.

I looked at James; He looked back at me. This was a problem. We were going to need some help.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I woke Sunday morning refreshed and found myself in my own bed. I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs, and looked around at my surroundings blearily. I saw the bag with Sirius' present sitting on my bedside cupboard and judging from the lumps on each of the beds around me, I was the first to wake up.

I was tempted to lay back and try to sleep a bit more, but decided not to push my luck. I began to get changed, having obviously slept in my clothes from yesterday, though I couldn't remember going to bed, and carefully picked what I was going to wear. I had to get this right. Excitement began to build up in my chest.

I headed down to breakfast, suddenly ravenous.

"Amaliaaaaa..." I heard a number of voices call. I stopped and looked blankly around; I couldn't tell where they had come from.

"Amalia," I heard them call again, closer this time, and I turned around. My roommates stood behind me, gasping for breath, obviously having run from the Griffindor Tower all the way down to the first floor to catch up with me.

"Hey," I said nervously.

They grinned back at me and I knew everything was going to be okay. All my worries flew out the door. We sat down for breakfast, everyone talking at once, but that didn't matter. Eventually there was a lull in the conversation as we began to focus more on eating rather than catching up. I swallowed a particularly large mouthful of cereal; there was something I needed to ask.

"Do any of you guys know how I got into bed? I swear I fell asleep on that small chair in the common room."

Rebecca shrugged and continued eating; Nikki thought for a moment then also shrugged; Rose and Lily shared a small smile.

"It was Sirius," Rose said in her quiet voice.

I blinked; Sirius? Why would he bother? He wasn't even talking to me anymore.

"He said he found you asleep on the chair and that you looked uncomfortable," Lily explained, seeming to feel sorry for me. "He did a temporary charm on the stairs so he could carry you up."

"Oh…" I said, not sure what to make of this.

After breakfast the five of us spent the rest of the day sitting in the corner of the Common Room, just chatting and gossiping. It felt good to talk to them again and I didn't even mind that they obviously didn't like Michael, for whatever reason. I wasn't going to risk a fight just to find this out.

Eventually, though, it had to end. Rebecca and Nikki both went off to meet their boyfriends; Rose had to finish one last assignment and Lily had some Prefect rounds to do. This gave me the perfect opportunity to go find Sirius and give him his present. Before everyone left we made plans to go formal dress shopping on the next Hogsmead trip that they were allowing, to get our dresses for the Easter Ball. There were sign's all around us that the ball was getting closer and closer and there was a sense of excitement in the air that touched everybody, students and teachers alike.

I grabbed Sirius' present from my bedside cupboard and began my search. I wasn't even sure where he was, but it was early still, I had plenty of time to find him.

I knew he wasn't in his room or in the Common Room so I did a quick search of the seventh and sixth floors before moving onto the fifth floor, but found no sign on him. I made my way slowly through the fourth floor, still nothing, so I went onto the third floor.

"Remus!" I yelled, recognising the tall boy immediately. I ran up to him and grinned. He looked unsure for a moment then saw my smile, visibly relaxing. Again, all was forgiven.

"Hey," he said, glancing down at the present I held in my hand. "Looking for Sirius?"

I nodded. "Are you doing your Prefect rounds? How long do you have left?"

He glanced at his watch. "I have just over ten minutes left. Why don't you keep me company and then I'll help you look for Sirius?"

"Okay," I said enthusiastically. "What do you have to do?"

"Just have to make sure no one's doing anything they shouldn't."

We walked through the last few levels, still not finding any sign of Sirius, and eventually we began our trek back up to the Common Room. We reached the sixth floor when we heard it; giggling. It was coming from a nearby broom cupboard and I started to blush, realising what was going on.

Remus sighed and headed for the cupboard. I laughed softly at the look on his face; it was obvious he'd done this before and still didn't like it.

I leant forward a bit, curious as to who would be stupid enough to risk getting caught 'having fun' in a random cupboard so late at night, when it was obvious it was after bed hours.

Remus wrenched the door open, clearing his throat loudly. "Okay, detention both of you…" His voice trailed off and he stared in shock in the cupboard.

From my position behind him I couldn't see anything. I crept closer and peeked around his shoulder. It was dark in there, that was the first thing I noticed, and there were definitely two people in there. One, the guy, was taller than the other person, but all I could see of him was the back of his head. He had smooth black hair that fell naturally around his ears; something nudged at my subconscious and I frowned. He wasn't wearing a shirt and a part of me was glad to have witnessed this sight; he was gorgeous. I wrenched my eyes away from this god and looked at the girl, recognising her immediately; Margaret.

I gasped and the guy turned around, looking sheepish for a moment, then he saw me and his eyes turned cold; Sirius.

I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to do. I felt numb. Margaret smiled at me cattily and let off a little laugh, but I didn't pay any attention to her, my eyes were riveted to Sirius. I saw something flicker in his eyes before they went back to their coldness.

Remus cleared his throat again, stepping back so that they could come out of the cupboard. He grabbed my arm when I didn't move. They stood across from us, neither of them apologising.

"Sirius…" Remus said warningly.

"Don't be such a stick in the mud Remus, we were just having a bit of fun," Sirius said, then looked at me. "Yes?" He asked coldly.

I unstuck my tongue from where it had glued itself to the top of my mouth.

"Here, happy birthday," I said hoarsely, shoving his present at him. I didn't wait for him to grab it, just let it go and turned, running, down the hallway, ignoring Remus' shout.

-----

_Remus' POV_

I looked at the pair coldly for a moment after Amalia's disappearing act.

"Margaret, I'm going to have to ask you to go back to the Tower, and you still have a detention."

She looked at me coldly before turning to leave, but not before giving Sirius one last kiss goodbye. I knew she didn't like me, I was friends with Amalia, and for some unknown reason she seemed to hate Amalia with a passion.

I looked at Sirius. "Well?"

"Well what?" He snapped back, still holding his present.

"You want to explain that?"

"Yes mum," he said sarcastically.

He sighed and began fiddling with the present while I waited impatiently.

"Fine! I'll talk to you later, right now I'm going to go find Amalia, and your story _better_ be good."

I stalked off to the Gryffindor Tower. I was going to need some help with this search, and only one thing could help me: The Marauder's Map.

I found it hidden under James' bed and I grabbed it, careful not to wake him. When I got back down to the Common Room I saw Sirius sitting in a chair on the far side of the Common Room, holding something. He was pale as he looked down at the object. I didn't stop though; right now Amalia needed me more than Sirius did.

Once outside I took a quick look at the map and saw Amalia's little dot up in the Astronomy Tower.

I headed over there as quickly as possibly, shoving the map back in my pocket.

I started up the stairs, taking them two at a time. It was at times like these that I hated having such a big castle, there seemed to be so many stairs. I slowed down as I reached the top, to catch my breath, and heard raised voices from behind the door. I held my breath and crept closer to the door, peering in through the gap between the door and the door frame.

I saw Michael inside with Amalia. Her eyes were red and she looked tiny standing there next to Michael, who seemed to be towering over her. They seemed to be arguing.

"No Michael!" Amalia snapped, and started for the door.

My eyes went wide as he grabbed her arm and threw her against the wall. I saw his eyes in that moment; he was drunk, and didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. I saw bruises already coming up on Amalia's pale arms; obviously he's been here longer than I thought.

"'No Michael'," he mimicked, grabbing the top of her arms, trying to kiss her. She let out a small scream and tried to kick him, but he moved swiftly out the way.

I felt anger building up in me as he back handed her across the face and before I could think through a plan I shoved the door open, pulled my wand out and yelled '_Petrificus Totalus_'.

Michael fell with a dull thud to the floor and I grabbed Amalia's hand, pulling her out the room.

"We're over!" She shouted over shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I asked as we started down the stairs, leaving the still frozen Michael behind. I got the feeling if I stayed too long I'd do something I'd regret.

She nodded, rubbing her cheek.

"That bastard," she growled.

There was a bit of blood by her lip and I handed her my handkerchief, indicating where to wipe.

"What happened?" I asked still worried even though she was obviously alright now.

She fiddled with my handkerchief as she thought through her answer.

"Well I came up here after… yeah. And I hadn't been there long when Michael turned up. I was surprised but I figured that he must have seen me and followed me. It was okay at first, he asked me what was wrong but obviously I couldn't tell him, so I just said I needed some fresh air. It didn't take me long to realise that he was drunk, he stank of it, and then he tried to kiss me and… well you saw the rest."

I nodded, feeling the anger building up in me again but I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. There was no point in getting angry at Amalia.

I took hold of her elbow and led her to the Gryffindor Tower. She winced and, remembering the bruises on her arms, I loosened my grip.

"Has this happened before?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

She shook her head. I felt relief flow through my body.

"Good," I muttered.

We made it back to the Tower in record time. I didn't feel particularly tired so I sat down on the couch in front of the fire. Amalia sat down next to me and grabbed my hand, fiddling with it, trying to distract herself I assume.

She glanced at me briefly when I turned to face her. I gazed at her steadily until she sighed, understanding my unspoken question

"No, I'm okay now."

"What about…"

She stiffened next to me and shrugged, staring at my fingers, still playing with them. I realised I was unlikely to get an answer out of her at the moment, possibly even ever. This was more of a girl to girl talk; it would only be uncomfortable for both of us.

She yawned and jumped up.

"Well, I'm off, I'm tired. Night!"

I smiled at her, and nodded, watching her disappear up the stairs. I suddenly had the urge to bang my head against a brick wall, something it seemed only Amalia and Sirius could bring out in me. At any rate it'd hurt less than this current situation.

-----

**A/N:** and another chapter done! Hope everyone liked this chapter! Hmmm Michael lasted only two chapters... maybe I'll bring him back later?

Also I feel the need to point out I can _never remember_ the difference between breathe and breath, and I honestly can't be bothered continually finding out every time, so sorry if I ever get them the wrong way round.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed!

And remember:

"Save an Author! Leave a Review"


	14. Ball Gowns

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Fourteen: **Ball Gowns

I frowned and ground my teeth together, glaring at everyone around me. My plan wasn't working out at all, there had to be something I could do.

_You know what you have to do._

I stared at her as she moodily played with her breakfast.

I liked watching people, her. It tells you everything you need to know about someone, and you never once have to speak to them. I didn't want to speak to her. She was _nothing_ to me, only someone who got in the way of my dreams, my hopes, my plans.

I shifted my gaze slightly and saw that I wasn't the only one watching her, only he was doing so for a very different reason.

I could feel anger bubbling up inside me; _I_ had given him everything. _I_ was the one he was destined to spend the rest of his life with.

_You know what you have to do._

I gripped my fork and smashed it into the table in anger.

Yes, I knew what I would have to do.

-----

_Remus' POV_

I stormed into my room, my head throbbing from where I had accidentally hit it against a wall, and slammed the door shut with a loud bang, startling the three occupants of the room. Judging from their clear eyed gazes none of them had been asleep.

I focused my gaze on Sirius, who was watching me guardedly.

"You have some explaining to do," I told him calmly.

James and Peter watched us curiously, shifting their positions to get more comfortable.

"I don't have to explain anything," Sirius said scathingly.

"Oh yes you do. I'll even trade you. You explain _what the hell happened earlier_ and I'll tell you what just happened, and why we're going to _hurt_ Michael Tradeborn."

Sirius frowned, but seemed to be considering the offer.

"What just happened?" Peter asked, alarmed, but I ignored him and stared at Sirius.

"Well…?"

He frowned and glared at the ground.

"Margaret asked me if I would go out with her, I said yes."

I could see that I was going to have to drag this out of him. James and Peter looked on, concerned.

"And…? Have you…?"

He growled. "No! Today was the furthest we ever went. She wanted to go further earlier but I…"

I hid a smile; he still liked her, that much was obvious.

_We're such girls_, I thought suddenly. _Just_ _look at what we're trying to do_. _We don't pull pranks anymore; we're a bloody dating agency._

Realisation had dawned on Peter and James' faces, and they looked at Sirius kind of shocked.

"Mate, you mean you… and _Margaret_?"

"Well forgive me for wanting to date someone who actually likes me," Sirius said sarcastically, turning his glare towards James.

The three of us groaned.

"Why are you being so difficult?" Peter asked, echoing all our thoughts.

Sirius ignored him and turned to me.

"I've done my side of the bargain, now tell _me_ what happened?"

"After she… ran off…"

"No wait," James cut in. "What happened _before_ she ran off?"

I quickly told them about the incident, noticing Sirius flush out the corner of my eye.

"Oh, I see," James said. "Do continue."

It took me longer to explain to them what I'd seen, what Michael had tried to do, because I had to continually stop and wait for the wall punching and growling to finish before continuing with the story. By the time I'd, finally, finished, Sirius was nursing a bleeding hand, James' voice had gone hoarse and even Peter looked disgusted.

Sirius smiled grimly. "Well I'm sure we can do something to make him regret that for the rest of his life.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I rubbed my eyes tiredly and resisted the urge to lay my head on the table. I hadn't gotten more than three hours of sleep for the past five nights, and I knew I was likely to crash any minute now, but I had to pay attention to what Professor Flitwick was teaching us. My lack of sleep hadn't all been in vain though. I'd gone over the events of _that night_ and had come to a number of conclusions.

1. Sirius had a really good body! Not that I hadn't heard rumours, but hearing rumours and actually seeing it first hand was _very_ different.

2. I could breath easier now; it was clear that Sirius didn't like me any more, even if he had in the first place, which I think he didn't and it doesn't matter what my friends say, I'm right and they're wrong.

3. I do not like Sirius.

4. What happened was _definitely_ not my fault, no matter what Michael's friends are saying. It's completely my choice how far I go, and it was good to finally see what Michael was really like.

5. I _really_ do not like Sirius.

6. That I wish Sirius a happy life with Margaret and I feel no ill-will against either of them.

7. I absolutely, 100 do not like Sirius.

8. I actually felt freer now that I was away from Michael; no more someone monopolising my time, no one telling me what to do.

9. I'm a liar, and a bad one at that. I like Sirius. I more than like him… A lot more… Probably a lot more than _a lot_. But I refused to say the 'L' word, because that just wasn't possible. Plus, he didn't like me any more, so I'm probably doomed to spend the rest of my life alone, a spinster.

10. No matter how much pleading or threatening Michael does I will _never_ get back with him.

11. I am a sad sad person for liking someone who doesn't like me and who now has a bitch of a girlfriend.

12. I will never let anyone know of these conclusions, because that is the best way to not get hurt, particularly the ones about Sirius. _No one will ever know about them._

I slumped in my seat. I was pretty sure I would be able to sleep tonight; if not I'll just get someone to knock me unconscious.

Sirius sat stiffly next to me. He'd moved his chair as far away as possible from me and not one word had been spoken between the two of us since Sunday.

That wasn't to say I hadn't tried, but no matter what I said he just looked at me coldly, even angrily, and didn't say a word.

"Okay class, you may go now, but remember that I want that assignment by the end of next week."

My head jerked up. Well… that _was _quick.

I grabbed my stuff and headed for the door, walking just behind my friends. I hadn't told them much of what had happened, but they seemed to get the gist. Rebecca had offered to beat up Michael for me, and even Rose had seemed to want to do something, but I'd told them 'two wrongs don't make a right'.

I saw Sirius walking up ahead and my insides seemed to curl. I watched as he greeted Margaret, who had waited outside the classroom for him, and disappeared up a different hallway, away from his friends.

I sighed and followed everyone back to the tower.

-----

The weekend, and the three weeks following it, seemed to fly by in a rush of homework, sleep and more homework. I managed to catch up on all my work at the beginning, even getting ahead in some lessons, and spent the rest of the time focusing on getting new piles' of homework done and revising for the upcoming exams. I now managed to sleep at least eight hours every night.

I tried not to dwell on anything else but my work, but no matter what I did I still felt sad whenever I saw Sirius and Margaret together, working, talking or just plain snogging. I soon found that the best way to avoid seeing any of these was to just avoid the Griffindor Tower. This meant that I spent some time nearly every day in the library or somewhere out on the Hogwarts grounds.

Sometimes my friends would join me, but I couldn't stand the pitying looks they gave me, as though they knew exactly what was going on in my head, so, no matter how bad I felt about it, I would sometimes avoid them too.

Along with time flying by, disappearing without a backward glance, the Easter Ball was zooming closer and closer each day. Normally I would have been excited about the prospect of dressing up, but what was the point? I would just be left on my own for most of the time anyway.

I'd told my friends just yesterday about my decision not to go to the ball and I'd never seen them get so angry before. After the yelling had quietened down Lily told me that she would stay behind with me if I didn't go. I knew that she had a date for the ball and I didn't want either her or her date to be miserable as well, so they'd made me promise that I'd come with them, date or no date. Today was the day we were going shopping for our dresses.

It was the second Hogsmeade visit so far this year, and we could all see the tension on the faces of the teachers as they organised an escort for each group of students. There were also a set of new rules that had been placed on the noticeboard in the Griffindor Common Room.

1. We had to go in groups of five people or less.

2. We had to have a teacher escort for our entire time in Hogsmeade.

3. We were only allowed out for one and a half hours.

4. Obey any commands your accompanying professor gives you.

Professor Dumbledore had given us a brief talk yesterday at dinner on what we should do if anything were to happen, which left everyone feeling worried, almost scared.

I didn't mind these rules, they seemed fair to me, considering the danger we possibly faced from exiting the grounds. Rebecca seemed annoyed by the time frame in which we were to find a dress, but we'd convinced her that there was no reason to be worried.

Because Lily was a Prefect she had been given the task or organising which Griffindor groups went at what time, and had managed to get our group down as one of the first groups to go. From what she had told me Remus and James were going down later in the afternoon, so there was no chance of us accidentally running into them.

We headed down to the entrance hall silently, each of us wrapped up in our own thoughts; plus it was just too early to do anything more than sleepwalk. To fit all the groups in we had to be at the entrance hall by eight am. When we reached the hall I saw sixteen small groups of five, standing huddled around the edges of the hall. No one seemed particularly conscious and there were few people talking.

Nikki led us over to a spot on the far side, near the door, and we waited in silence for the teachers to arrive. None of us wanted to break the almost tense silence that had enveloped the hall.

-----

We didn't have to wait long for the teachers to arrive and we spent just over five minutes arranging who went with who. We had Professor McGonagall as our escort.

I yawned again, covering my mouth, as we lined up fir the carriages, shuffling forward sleepily until we were at the front.

We sat in the carriage in silence and I began wondering, once again, how we had managed to fit six people into one carriage.

None of us saw the worried faces of four people looking down from the Griffindor tower as we disappeared out of the grounds, or the grim look on Professor Dumbledore's face as he stepped out to watch the last carriage disappear.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

We watched as Amalia and her roommates left for Hogsmeade, most likely to get anything they needed for the Ball. As soon as their carriage disappeared off the grounds we sprung into action. We'd spent most of the night planning our attack, and now we were more than ready to teach Michael a lesson.

We'd spent the last three weeks watching him, finding out his habits, anything we could use against him, and we were now more than ready.

We knew that at eight-thirty am every day, rain or shine, he would get up and go for a run around the great lake. He would do five laps before heading in for breakfast.

It was at this moment, just as he enters the castle, when everyone's sure to be up and about, that we will strike.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

About half way to Hogsmeade Rebecca had finally cracked under the silence.

"So…" She said, drumming her fingers on the windowsill.

Professor McGonagall looked at her briefly. "What are your plans for today?" She asked us politely.

"Just looking for everything we need for the ball," Lily told her.

Professor McGonagall nodded and looked back outside. We weren't too far away now. Rebecca and Rose began to play Rock, Paper, Scissors quietly in one corner.

Five minutes later the carriage dropped us outside the one of the clothing store's located in Hogsmeade. It seemed no one had arrived at this particular store yet, more luck to us, so we dug right in.

Rebecca, Rose and Nikki seemed to have more luck with them. They found a number of dresses they liked almost immediately. Lily took a while longer, but she too was soon with the others in the dressing room, trying their choices on. I wandered around for a moment longer, not seeing anything that took my fancy. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I'm unlikely to wear every again, especially if I didn't even end up going to the Easter Ball. Also the lack of spending money I had would stop me buying any dress, no matter how well it suited me.

I wandered towards the back of the store. I'd seen a sign that said sale items. I figured that would be a good place to start.

I riffled through the racks they had on display, finding three pretty dresses that were also reasonably priced. The others were still trying one of their many dresses on. The first one I tried on was a simple back dress, with shoestring straps, that fell just past my ankles. I didn't mind this dress, mainly because of it's simple elegants.

The second dress was gorgeous, in my opinion. It was yellow, strapless, that flared at the waist. It had a number of layers underneath that made it flare out more than others.

The third one was my favourite. It had a plunging neckline that stopped just under my breasts, where it was slightly belted. The top half had a floral design, with orange and blue flower embroidery. The bottom half fell gently to the floor and had two layers. The bottom layer was silky and was a deep blue colour. The top layer was see through if you picked it up, with the top half also a deep blue colour and the bottom half orange. The only downside to the dress was that it was too long.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

I crouched down behind the suit of armour. I could see James off to my left, further down the hall way, also hidden behind a suit of armour, and I knew Peter and Remus were around here somewhere, also hidden.

All we had to do was wait for the signal.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

"Amalia? You got one yet?" Lily's voice came through the door to my dressing room.

"Yes," I yelled back.

"Come on then! Let us see!"

I tore my eyes away from my reflection and tentatively opened the door. When I saw that they all still wore the dresses they had chosen I opened the door fully and showed them my dress, having a look at what they had chosen as I did so.

Nikki had chosen a forest green dress that widened at the waist and fell to the floor. The straps were simple and the top half of the dress and the hem of the dress were decorated with green and pink floral patterns.

Lily had chosen a white evening gown that fell to the ground in simple, elegant waves. The edges of the straps were decorated with gold material and there were two gold straps around the waist.

Rose had chosen a pink dress. It had a plunging neckline, almost all the way to her waist, and the back of the dress was longer than the front. It was belted at the waist. Her shoes were simple shoes, pink to match the dress, and about two inches high.

Rebecca had also chosen an evening gown. It was a light green colour, with spaghetti strap's and also fell to the ground, with a long split up one side. There was another layer underneath, shown from the split, of pink material. She wore three inch high shoes that were the same colour of the dress.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

I smiled in satisfaction as I looked over our handiwork. This had to be one of the best pranks we'd pulled in a long time.

I looked around at my companions and I knew I wasn't alone in my satisfaction.

"That ought to teach a lesson," Remus said.

I felt anger building up inside me as I watched the bastard struggle to get down. When I'd heard what he'd done…

I shook my head. I wasn't going to dwell on it.

"We better go," Peter said.

Without another word we went back to our dormitory and took up our vigilance at the windows, waiting for everyone to return.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

"Wow!" Rose said.

I couldn't help grinning. "How do I look?"

"It looks great! Now we all have a dress, and it hasn't even been an hour!" Lily said happily.

I bit my lip.

"The dress is a bit long though."

"That'll be no trouble," a startlingly small lady said as she bustled into the room. She took out her wand and with a wave in my direction, shortened the dress. She handed me a pair of shoes that I swear she pulled out of thin air. "Put these on. They go specifically with that dress."

I did as I was told and had another look in the mirror. You couldn't see the shoes very well, but that didn't matter. They were nearly two inches high, and I knew I had no worry about looking short and dumpy at the ball.

Professor McGonagall came in and sat down in the chair in the corner of the room. She seemed slightly amused about something as she watched us.

"Well," Nikki began. "If we're done, let's buy this stuff and head back. The sooner we get back the sooner more people can get down here."

We nodded. That seemed logical.

It didn't take us long to change back into the clothes we'd come down in and buy our dresses and shoes. We were back at Hogwarts before the hour and a half was up.

-----

When we hopped off the carriage I was surprised to see what looked like nearly the entire school laughing at something. I braced myself to push through the crowd, but a hand on my arm stopped me from going any further.

"Everybody move," Professor McGonagall ordered.

A path seemed to open up for her, almost like magic, and we followed her through.

I stopped dead when I saw him. Michael. I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing at the sight.

He'd been strung up above the door leading to the Great Hall. His hands and ankles held him in place by some visible ropes. He had a red shiny apple stuck in his mouth and was completely naked, except for one, small, leaf. There was a sign above him that read:

**I'm a lot smaller than I let on**

When we'd arrived a couple of fellow Ravenclaw's had been trying to get him down, but none of their spells seemed to be working.

He spotted me and glared down at me, completely furious.

I couldn't help it any longer, I started to laugh.

Almost immediately I began to feel better about everything. I glanced over to see that my friends also found this sight amusing. Looking past them I spotted Sirius, James, Remus and Peter. They were all looking down at us, me, and something told me that they were the one's responsible for Michael's current situation.

I grinned over at them and gave them a wave. Hopefully they'll have taught Michael a lesson and he'll leave me alone.

-----

**A/N:** … yeah…

Well a whole lot of nothing happened here, and I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, but… well there isn't a whole lot I could do. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I wanted/pictured. I just couldn't get it to flow, though it does set up a number of things that happen later… eh hehehe.

**Dresses **I'm going to put links up on my profile page ASAP for the dresses each of my characters are going to wear so you can get a better picture!

Thank you everyone who reviewed! Much appreciated! It kept me going!

"Save an Author! Leave a Review!"


	15. A Date

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Fifteen: **A Date

I had a new plan. A very good plan.

It was going to take a while to put the plan into action though. It could even take years, but in the end it would be worth it, because she would be gone and I would finally get him all to myself.

I would just have to wait for the perfect moment.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

The next week went by slowly, and every day, hour, minute, second that went by brought the Easter Ball closer. When I'd finally had the time to sit down and take a breather, away from the excitement of nearly everyone in the castle, I remembered that I still didn't have anyone to go with. Whenever this thought popped into my head, though, I immediately banished it, and I tried to keep myself as busy as possible. Normally being on my own wouldn't have bothered me, but I would usually have a number of friends to be able to hang out with on the night. This time, however, I was completely on my own.

Ever since Sirius, James, Remus and Peter's prank on Michael, not a single thing had happened. There were no more pranks, nothing happened to anyone whilst in Hogsmeade. Everyone had simply fallen into a routine of homework and planning for the Ball. The amount of homework seemed to gather intensity, but, surprisingly, everyone was staying on top of their work and the sense of excitement never seemed to leave.

On another front Sirius and I seemed to have come to some sort of unspoken agreement. We worked together in class, talking politely, but there always seemed to be some sort of silent undercurrent to everything. Every time I saw him the butterflies reappeared, and I was having a lot more trouble ignoring them, and him.

I stretched out in front of the fire after finishing my twelve inch essay for History of Magic. I could see the moon high in the sky out the nearby window which told me that it was fairly late in the evening, but I wasn't tired.

"Come on!"

I looked over at the stairs to see all my roommates minus Lily tumble down.

"What's going on?" I asked as I sat up.

Rose hurried over, looking worried.

"You know that assignment that's' due for Care of Magical Creatures the day after tomorrow?" I nodded. I wasn't in the class but I'd heard everyone talking about it. They were all saying how hard it was and how they were sure to fail. "There aren't any more books in the library that I can use to finish it and I don't know what to do now! I'd completely forgotten all about that assignment and now I'm stuck! And no one can help me because we're all doing something different!" She ended her sentence with a wail.

I frowned and bit my lip.

"Don't you know anyone you could get a book about Acromantula's off of?" Nikki asked thoughtfully.

Rose shook her head.

"Well…"

Footsteps warned us that more people were about to come down.

"Remus!" Rose cried, rushing forward.

He looked alarmed for a moment then smiled down at her.

"Hey. What's wrong?"

"She needs a book for the project for Care of Magical Creatures, do you have one?" Rebecca asked before Rose could say anything.

He shook his head. "Aren't there any in the library?"

"No, and even if there were some the library's closed." Rose sighed.

"Yes there is one." Sirius said suddenly. He stepped out from the shadows of the stairs, where he'd been leaning against the wall. "But Mr. Prefect here won't approve of us getting it."

Remus frowned at Sirius as James grinned. "Oh! You mean that one from the restricted section?"

Sirius and James grinned at each other, obviously already planning how to get the book. Remus didn't look very happy about this suggestion.

"Please Remus! I really need this for the project," Rose said.

"I…"

"Remus." Rose all but wailed.

"Fine! But if we get caught…"

"Mate, this is us you're talking to." James slapped Remus on the back and pulled everyone into a huddle. "Okay this is what we're going to do…"

-----

I glared at the ground. How the _hell_ did I get roped into helping with this?

We were in the library, trying to get into the restricted section. The fact that the place we needed to go was restricted, hence the name 'restricted section', was usually enough for others to say "well we're not suppose to go in here _so we won't!_" but not James, Sirius and Remus.

They seemed to know the school like the back of their hands as they led us through secret corridors that I didn't even know existed, and avoided teachers I hadn't even realised were around. Now here we were, literally breaking into the library _for a book!_

"Okay," Sirius whispered to me and Nikki. "You two stay here and be our lookouts. If anyone comes, whistle."

Before either of us could say anything he melted into the darkness, in the general direction James and everyone had gone.

"I don't know how to whistle," Nikki's voice came out of the darkness.

"Neither do I," I whispered back. "What should we do?"

"I don't know. No one will come anyway; it's too late for anyone to be around."

That made sense.

-----

Five minuted passed.

Ten minutes passed.

Half an hour passed and we were still waiting for the five of them to re-appear.

I groaned as I slid to the floor. My feet were throbbing from standing still for so long. Nikki followed seconds later.

"What's taking so long?" Nikki groaned.

I stifled a laugh. Nikki was the most patient out of all of us, so if she was annoyed…

"Who knows."

We'd only sat down for a few minutes when I became aware of voice in the distance, coming closer, and brief flickers of light. We both stood up and walked cautiously towards the entrance of the library. When we reached it I stuck my head out slightly to see what was going on. My eyes widened at the sight.

"Who is it?" Nikki whispered, so quietly I almost couldn't hear her.

I didn't need to answer her. Whoever they were, were too far away at the moment to make any features out, but close enough that we could hear their voices.

"They went this way ma'am, we swear," a nasal sounding voice said.

"Boys, if this is some sort of prank or wild goose chase, you will both be serving a month's worth of detentions with me."

I recognised the stern voice immediately and my hands immediately began to sweat. Professor McGonagall was striding closer with every second and Sirius, James, Remus, Rose and Rebecca were still in the restricted section. I also recognised the two people with Professor McGonagall. They were Michaels best friends and, since our break-up, have made my life particularly difficult.

I heard Nikki gasp when she heard the voices. Obviously she recognised them as well.

"Shit!" I muttered as she dragged me back to the restricted section entrance. "What are we…?"

Before we reached it though the lights in the library began to flicker and Nikki dragged me into the nearest bookshelves.

We held our breath as Professor McGonagall's gaze zeroed in on the open door for the restricted section and headed straight for it. I winced as she paused on the threshold for a second then went inside. The two Ravenclaws that had come in with her stood just outside the door, a look of excitement on their faces. It was obvious that they couldn't wait for us to get caught and punished.

I suddenly felt something warm behind me and I tensed up. He chuckled and I whirled around, staring at Sirius in shock. Nikki was disappearing into the darkness of the bookshelves.

"How the hell did you get there?" I asked, clutching my chest.

He smiled down at me and ignored my question, instead grabbing my hand and pulling me into the darkness.

"Everyone's outside," he whispered to me as we followed the vague outlines of James and Nikki as they walked softly ahead of us. "If we hurry we can get out of here before McGonagall re-appears."

He chuckled softly again.

I gripped his hand as we wove our way through the shelves, making our way to the entrance in a rather roundabout way.

I could see the entrance just ahead and we picked up our pace. We stopped at the edge of the shelves and waited for James and Nikki to get outside, waiting a few more minutes to be on the safe side. Sirius was peering cautiously around the edge of the shelf, watching the two Ravenclaws.

"Okay, now," he hissed, grabbing my hand.

He yanked me forward then stopped suddenly, shoving me back into the shadows.

I looked over his shoulder and saw Professor after Professor enter the library, with Professor Dumbledore bringing up the end. We watched as they met Professor McGonagall at the entrance to the restricted section and talk briefly, before splitting up. They each spread out around the library, searching for something, searching for us. Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore moved to the entrance of the library, with the two Ravenclaw students.

"Are you sure there are students in here Minerva?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"I only have these boys word on the matter Albus, but when we got here the entrance was open, as was the door for the restricted section."

"But you think this time it's a group of Gryffindor's?"

"We'll soon find out," Professor McGonagall muttered darkly. I could literally see Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkling from here, strange wizard. "If it is…"

I pressed myself against Sirius as the sound of voices behind us came closer. They were methodically searching the library for us.

Sirius mumbled something and pointed his wand at the opposite corner of the library.

A shout came out from over in that general direction. The voices near us disappeared, as did Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall, as they all hurried over to the far corner of the library. The Ravenclaws started to follow them, excitement clear on their faces. They looked like they wanted to jump for joy.

Sirius grabbed my hand again and we started to slip out of the library. I thought we'd made it when I glimpsed one of the students glancing back.

His eyes widened and he gave a yell, immediately informing the teachers.

Sirius growled and gripped my hand in an iron grasp, yanking me out the library and pulling me down the hallway, running so fast my feet were barely touching the ground.

Rose and everyone appeared just ahead of us, running flat out down the hallway. Remus had Rose's hand and was pulling her along, much like Sirius was with me.

I could hear yells behind us as we disappeared around the corner, but I didn't dare look back. The sound of footsteps told us that they weren't giving up that easily.

"Split up," James growled, disappearing with Nikki and Rebecca down what appeared to be a secret passage.

Remus and Rose left us a second later, running up the stairs whilst we continued down the hallway, trying to dodge our pursuers.

We sprinted down the hallway and turned left around another corner. I could see the end of the hallway just ahead and was so focused on making it to the end that I almost smashed into a wall when Sirius yanked me through a small passageway that I hadn't even known was there.

Left. Right. Right. Left. Up. Down. Up. Up.

We were on the seventh floor finally, after much twisting and turning. At times I wasn't even sure where we were. The Gryffindor tower was around the corner at the end of this hallway. We were almost there.

I ran behind Sirius, beginning to get puffed out. I wasn't fit. In fact you'd be lucky to get me to do any exercise other than going to and from class, so this running all over the school had taken its toll. It must have been the excitement, the adrenalin, when we'd first started that had gotten me this far, but now I was pooped.

But we were almost there and I could collapse in exhaustion later.

_Smack._

I flew into Sirius back and hit the floor, bum first.

He'd stopped in the middle of the hallway, right in front of me, causing me to run into his back. He hadn't even grunted or moved an inch but the impact had sent me to the floor.

He muttered something, bent down and picked me up and dragged me over to the nearest door… which turned out to be a broom cupboard.

He shoved me in and closed the door after himself.

We stood there as quiet as possible and I could hear the sound of faint voices.

"If they're Gryffindor's," Professor Dumbledore's voice said as him and his companion walked past. "Then we'll just wait for them in the Tower."

"Where are the other Professors?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"They're still searching the castle." I heard him chuckle. "All this for a group of rogue Gryffindors. You know in my day…"

His voice faded as they moved away, down the corridor.

I didn't dare say anything in case someone heard me.

Sirius chuckled, the third time this evening.

"Well this is that broom cupboard I was telling you about Little One," he said, his voice right next to my ear. "What say we put it to good use?"

I glared at him in the darkness.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"We'll just wait here until things calm down," he told me simply, and began feeling around, trying to find somewhere to sit.

I wasn't that picky. I just plonked myself down on the floor. He seemed to realise his search was futile and sat down next to me. In such cramped quarters I wasn't able to do a good job of avoiding him, and feeling his side pressed against mine sent my butterflies into a frenzy and the blood pumping loudly in my ears.

We sat this way for what felt like hours, but in reality I'm sure it was closer to ten minutes. Sirius had begun fiddling after five, so by then I wasn't too surprised he was the one to start the conversation.

"So…?" He asked.

I stared at him in the darkness, raising my eyebrows. "So…?"

"Tonight was fun, don't you think?"

"Uh… I guess."

We sat in silence for a minute longer before I asked the question I'd been wanting to ask for a while now.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked him.

"You just did," he pointed out.

"Oh har har." I gritted my teeth.

"Sure go ahead," he laughed. I almost jumped out of my skin when he grabbed my hand and begun to fiddle with it.

"Okay, on the way… wait, will you answer these!?!"

"Maybe," he said absentmindedly as he measured the size of our hands.

"Fine! On the way to the library, how do you know all about those secret passage ways? And where the teachers were to avoid them?"

He laughed quietly. "It's a gift," he said smugly.

"If it's such a gift why don't you use it now to get us out of here?"

He stopped laughing. "I don't have the gift with me at the moment."

"So where is it then?" I asked impatiently.

"I think Remus has it."

I shook my head in annoyance; I wasn't going to get any straight answers out of him.

"Okay then, if you won't answer those questions properly, how did you guys get out of the restricted section without Professor McGonagall or Nigel and Alfred seeing you?"

"Now that one I can answer. We got out just after you two went to see who was coming."

"Oh…"

We fell into a comfortable silence. His hand was warm but rough as it played with mine. It felt nice.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asked me, sounding slightly cautious.

"Sure." I shrugged.

"Are you going to the Easter Ball with anyone?"

_Wow_, I thought, _he certainly hit the nail on the head with that one_.

I shook my head.

"No. No, I'm not."

"Oh…" He sounded almost sad, which confused me.

"Why?"

"Just wondering," he mumbled.

The silence came back; not as comfortable as before. He continued playing with my hand, but it seemed both of us were off in our own little worlds.

-----

"Quick!"

My head shot up and I looked around groggily. I'd fallen asleep, not for long it seems, and my head had fallen onto Sirius shoulder. I could feel a blush building up on my cheeks as he awkwardly moved his arm from around my shoulder.

_Gawwwwwd_, I thought, embarrassed.

"In here!"

I gasped as we both jumped up. Sirius shoved me behind him, out of sight from whoever was about to open the door.

The door swung open and I tensed up.

"Prongs, mate!" Sirius said happily.

"Padfoot!"

I looked around Sirius shoulder at James in shock.

"What…?"

"Quick, move over, someone's coming!"

I quickly squeezed myself into the corner of the cupboard, the shelved pressing against my back, almost painfully.

I looked at Sirius in shock as he lifted me up and put me on one of the shelves, then moved himself into the spot I'd previously been in. I moved my knees awkwardly so I didn't knee Sirius in the stomach. James, Rebecca and Nikki squeezed themselves into the now nearly full broom cupboard, closing the door behind them.

Sirius put his hand lightly on my knee.

"What's going on out there?" Sirius asked quietly.

"There are teachers everywhere, they're taking this a bit too seriously," James said. "We hid in the small passage down on the fifth floor until we could get away. We were trying to get to the Tower but we heard someone coming down the hallway so we ducked in here. Weren't expecting to find you guys."

I laughed quietly.

"How about you guys?"

"Same basically, except we've been waiting here for ages. Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall are up in the Tower waiting for us to return."

James sighed. He seemed to be expecting that.

"Have you seen Remus or Rose?" he asked.

"Nope."

We waited in silence for a moment as footsteps sounded outside the door, fading as they disappeared down the hallway.

"Amalia," James whispered suddenly.

I tried to look around Sirius, and saw the vague outline of James in the darkness.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Can I ask you something?"

I felt Sirius tense up next to me.

"Uh, sure," I told him.

"You're not going to the Easter Ball with anyone are you?"

A slap sounded in the darkness.

"Ow! What was that for?" He sounded annoyed. Sirius had tensed up, so stiffly, I felt like I was sitting next to a warm brick wall.

"Don't be rude!" Rebecca said. "She's very touchy about that subject."

I rolled my eyes; okay so I'd been pretty obvious about that.

"I wasn't being rude, let me finish!"

He sighed.

"I take it you're not going with anyone then?"

"No," I muttered.

"Well neither am I!" He said happily. "Want to go with me?"

My eyes widened and I felt my jaw drop in shock. Sirius, if it was possible, had tensed up even more next to me. Rebecca and Nikki gasped in shock.

"Uh, well… sure, I guess."

Sirius growled and his hand on my knee tightened, almost painfully.

"Great! We can meet up at, say, seven in the Common Room and head down then."

I grinned into the darkness. "Sounds like a plan!" I said happily.

"James…" Sirius said angrily, his voice low and deep.

I could feel a strange tension in the air, which seemed to be sucking my happiness away.

"What?" James asked him irritably. "You have a date, but neither of us do, so what's the point of either of us going alone?"

Sirius didn't say anything but his hand was still gripping my knee tightly.

"Hide!"

Everyone's heads turned to the door as voices came from right outside and it swung open for a second time.

Remus and Rose looked at us in shock.

"Whaa…" Rose said as Remus shoved her into the already crowded cupboard and followed her in, closing the door behind himself.

"There are about ten teachers heading this way," Remus hissed as everyone tried to rearrange themselves to fit the two new arrivals in.

Sirius was on one side of my knees, while James was now squished on the other side. Rebecca and Nikki were somewhere just in front of me and Remus and Rose were pressed against the door. There was now no room left in the cupboard. I don't think even a house elf could have even squeezed himself in here.

We waited in silence. The sound of footsteps came closer, getting louder, and actually seemed to stop right outside the cupboard. I tensed up and huddled against Sirius.

We could hear the teachers talking and it seems Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore had joined them.

"They haven't returned to the tower, and they're nowhere to be found in the castle," an unknown voice said.

"We know who it is, why don't we just get them in the morning, _at a decent hour?_" Someone else asked.

"We may know who it is, but we can't prove it unless we find them," Professor McGonagall's annoyed voice said.

"There isn't anything we can do," Professor Dumbledore said calmly. "I want one last check of each floor then everyone can get back to bed. We'll deal with them in the morning."

I had a strange feeling the old wizard found the whole mess amusing.

_And all this for a book!_

The voices disappeared and the footsteps faded away.

We waited fifteen minutes to be sure that they had actually gone, and not a sound came from outside the door.

Remus opened the door slowly, cautiously and stepped outside, followed closely by Rose, Rebecca, Nikki, James then Sirius and me.

It was dark outside, all the lights had gone out.

Sirius put his hand on my back and led me after the others, towards the Gryffindor Tower.

The lights around us flared suddenly and we all stopped, momentarily blinded.

I looked around, black spots dancing across my eyes.

"Ah shit," Rebecca said.

-----

**A/N:** Well, this took longer than I thought it would, and I figured it would be short and not very good, but it's long and I think it turned out pretty damn good! Please tell me what your thoughts were!

Thank you everyone who reviewed and hurried me along! (You know who you are)

**I should point out that Tafe is back in a week and a half, so after I go back I won't be able to update as much (on the plus side it'll draw the story out longer!) I'm hoping I'll get one, two, **_**maybe**_** three chapters out before then, but I won't make any promises!**

Anyway…

'Save an Author! Leave a Review!'

Bye!


	16. Damn Easter Bunnies

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Sixteen: **Damn Easter Bunnies

_Sirius' POV_

I stared out the window. The darkness was slowly disappearing as the sun made its way through the sky.

I hadn't gotten any sleep what so ever last night.

Professor Dumbledore had taken us back to his office, letting the other teachers head back to bed. Professor McGonagall had come along, and I could have sworn that her eye kept twitching and her lips had completely disappeared. He'd explained to us that a group of people had been breaking into the library, the potions cabinet and the hospital and stealing various things, which was why there were so many teachers around last night and why they looked around for us so long.

We were given two weeks worth of detention, starting after the Easter Ball.

I laughed softly, not wanting to wake anyone else around me, when I remembered the look on Amalia's face when we'd been caught and taken to Dumbledore's office. She'd lost all colour in her face and at times also looked like she was going to be sick.

Rebecca and Nikki had taken it a bit better. Nikki had taken it matter-a-factly and had remained polite throughout the entire time, whilst Rebecca had taken a page out of our book and had been grinning openly, proud of how long we'd evaded the teachers.

When they'd finally let us out we'd stumbled back to the Common Room and everyone had immediately gone to bed, exhausted. Strangely I couldn't sleep at all.

But I knew why.

I remembered the feeling I'd had when I'd found out that Amalia hadn't had anyone to go to the dance with. At first I'd been happy, almost ecstatically so, and also slightly guilty at how happy I was feeling. She was obviously a bit touchy about that subject. I'd even been considering asking her to go with me, forgetting all about Margaret for the moment.

But then James had to come and ruin it, asking her to go to the Ball with him instead. I'd never felt so close to punching my own best friend before. A part of me said that this was good, this kept her off limits, and neither of us would get hurt. But another part of me wished that _we_ were going to go together.

I looked over to where he slept, peacefully, is arms and legs flung out in opposite directions, his mouth open in a silent snore. I'd never once thought of him as a threat, but now…

_No!_ I thought. _If he knew you still liked her then he'd bow out of the way, you know that!_

I did know that.

I thought dating Margaret would help me forget Amalia, help me stop liking her, but it wasn't working, and I was only hurting all three of us if we continued as we were.

I was going to have to do something, and I think I knew what.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I managed to get about two hours sleep when we finally got to bed, before we were all rudely woken up and forced to go to the lesson that day, Charms.

Charm in itself seemed to drag on for ages, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Rose was another matter. Barely ten minutes into the lesson, Professor Flitwick's explanation on a new charm was interrupted by a thud from the front of the room. Every craned their neck to see what had happened and I snorted when I saw Remus trying to shake Rose awake. She'd obviously fallen asleep and her head had fallen and hit the table.

Professor Flitwick took this in good humour, thankfully, and told Remus to let her sleep. She slept for the rest of the lesson and Remus ended up carried her back to the Gryffindor Tower.

I sat silently in the back of the classroom, next to Sirius, until we were told to practice the charm. It seemed easy enough and, thankfully, I managed to get the hang of it after about ten minutes.

"_Amalia,_" I heard someone whisper.

I looked up from my study of the table in front of me and looked around blankly. I had no idea where the voice had come from so I wasn't sure where to look. I knew I must have looked like an idiot doing this, judging from the snicker I heard from my right.

"_Amalia!_"

This time I was able to guess which direction the voice was coming from. I looked ahead to the front of the class and saw James waving at me. I raised my eyebrows and waved back.

He rolled his eyes and waved again. This time I got the meaning; he was trying to get me to come there.

I sighed and heaved myself out of my chair and slouched over to him.

"Yeah?" I mumbled as I put my head on his table and tried to keep my eyes open.

"Lily doesn't believe that we're going to the Ball together," he told me, sounding annoyed.

I groaned and lifted my head up and looked at Lily.

"Lily. Yes, we are going to the ball together. No, we are not going out. No, I don't want to fight. Yes, I didn't have anyone to go with and neither did he, which is why we're going together. Is there anything…"

James cut me off.

"See!?! I told you I wasn't lying!"

I groaned and stood back up, not noticed as the two of them began arguing again, and went back to my chair.

"Tired?" A voice to my right asked, sounding amused.

I just looked at Sirius bleary eyed.

"Don't worry, five minutes to go then you can go back to bed."

I was too tired to argue with him when, as I put my head on the table, he began to rub my back in small circles. I groaned softly. No, I wouldn't argue, it felt so nice, and I was just so tired.

"Okay folks," Professor Flitwick twittered. "You may go now, and I hope to see everyone at the Easter Ball this Sunday."

I didn't protest when Sirius helped me stand up, or when he put his arms around my waist, helping me walk out the room. I was just so tired.

"_Sirius!_" A high pitched voice snapped.

My feet were still moving and my brain wasn't working. The warm, steady arm around my waist disappeared but I kept moving. I had to get back to bed.

Ten minutes later my head touched my pillow and I knew no more.

-----

I woke up just before dinner, completely refreshed and ravenous.

I laughed softly when I saw that I wasn't the only one to have crashed as soon as possibly. I started heading down to the great hall. Dinner wouldn't start for another hour, but I was sure I could find something to do to kill the time.

I entered the great hall and stopped, staring.

I couldn't get my mind around what I was seeing.

It looked like a giant bunny rabbit, except… it was pink.

"Amalia!" I turned to where I'd heard Lily's voice and hurried over to where she stood, overseeing everything.

"What's going on?" I asked.

She grinned happily at me.

"We decided that this year, the students, namely the prefects and a small select bunch of students, will do all the decorations. Preferably without magic."

"Ooookay…" I didn't like where this was going.

"Yeah! So do you think you could help out? Maybe explain to everyone who isn't muggle born why exactly the Easter Bunny needs to be white?"

Bingo! There it was.

I sighed and headed over to where a cluster of students stood, eyeing the rabbit.

"Amalia!"

A feeling of deja-vu hit me and I looked up to see James waving at me, indicating that I should go over to him.

"James," I said.

"Hey! What are you doing here? Are you helping with the Easter Bunny?"

Something in his voice told me that there was a big possibility that he had no idea what the Easter Bunny was, or why it was here.

"Yeah, I have to tell everyone why he has to be white."

His eyes fell.

"Oh… so he has to be white then?"

I nodded and patted him on the shoulder before turning to the large group that stood nearby.

I felt my stomach clench when I saw that Sirius was part of the group, as well as Margaret.

"Hey guys," I said to the group. I saw Sirius' head shoot around and he looked at me unblinkingly. "I've been told to tell you that the Easter Bunny, behind me, has to be white, not pink."

They all looked at me, and I realised then that most of them were either half- or purebloods. They had no idea what I was talking about.

I sighed again.

"Okay look, in the muggle world, bunny's are white, fluffy, cute little, cuddly things. In the story of the Easter Bunny he's _white_, not pink. When he hides your Easter eggs he 'drops' _white_ bits of his fluffy tail. In my house, that helped lead you to the Easter eggs! So… he needs to be white."

"Uh… well okay, fine," someone muttered and changed the colour of the giant Easter Bunny.

I shrugged to myself. Lily never said I actually had to make sense.

"That's ridicules," someone said snidely. "That made no sense. I don't see why we're even listening to…"

"Margaret, shut it okay?" Sirius snapped as he walked over to me.

We both stared at him in shock, but he ignored us. Margaret's lips thinned and she stormed out of the Great Hall.

"Wasn't that a bit mean?" I asked softly.

"I'm sick of her bagging all my friends," he said.

I looked at him in shock. Does this mean we were friends? Just friends? I wanted to ask him, but I wasn't sure if I would like the answer.

I took a deep breath and turned to look at the now snow white Easter Bunny, trying hard to ignore the tall presence next to me.

"Where's the bunny going?" I asked after a while.

He didn't say anything so I looked up at him. He was frowning thoughtfully.

"I think Lily mentioned that it was going to go behind the teachers table."

"Okay, who's moving it? It looks about ready to go back there."

He grinned at me cheekily.

"I am."

I tried hard not to smile back, and failed miserably.

He flicked his wand and muttered the incantation. I watched as the bunny began floating about half an inch off the ground.

"I think you'll need to make it higher than that," I teased him.

He grunted and it lifted an inch higher.

"Uh…"

The bunny fell back to the ground with a thud, rocking dangerously.

He stood there breathing heavily.

"What' wrong?" I asked.

"That bunny's damn heavy. I'm having trouble lifting it," he said, taking some deep breaths and flexing his arms.

"Okay, I'll help," I said.

This time we both muttered the incantation and the bunny hovered about half a foot off the floor, still not high enough for us to get it behind the table. We let it fall to the floor with another thud and it rocked again. Sirius had been right, even with magic it was too heavy for us to lift it. I was amazed he'd managed to get it so high before.

"What's going on?" James asked as he walked up with Remus and Peter.

Sirius told him about the bunny.

"Oh, okay. Amalia, you get around the other side of the bunny; Sirius you go on it's left side and Remus you go on it's right. Me and Peter will stay here and we'll go together."

I nodded and quickly moved around to the other side.

"Okay!" James shouted. "On the count of three. One, two, three!"

I muttered the incantation to lift the bunny and watched as it lifted more than high enough for us to move it. I began to move slowly backwards, towards the teachers table, the bunny floating behind me.

Everyone had stopped to watch what we were doing, some even cheering happily.

I grinned over at Sirius as we got closer to our mark.

"Ugh!"

I felt the pressure build up on my arms as the bunny dropped closer to the ground. I saw James and Peter opposite me had gotten tangled in some rubbish on the floor, dropping their wands and causing the weight to be transferred to Remus, Sirius and me.

"Keep going," Remus said through gritted teeth. I could feel my back pressing against the teachers table.

But I could tell it wasn't going to make it. The bunny was now less than a foot off the ground and falling steadily. I knew I wouldn't be able to get it any further.

_Thud._

I stared in muted shock as the bottom of the bunny caught on the step up to the teachers table. We quickly dropped our wands and watched as it rocked dangerously.

It started to lean dangerously away from me, and it was obvious that it was about to fall. James, Peter and a number of other people scrambled out the way.

"Quickly," someone yelled. "Hit it before it falls!"

Someone seemed to understand the strange request and a large, life-sized Easter egg flew out of no where and hit the bunny, with a bit too much force.

When before it had been about to fall and hit the floor, now it had been knocked and it was about to fall and hit the teachers table, and me.

"Amalia!" Someone yelled.

I cringed and closed my eyes. There wasn't anything I could do. It was too late to move.

I was about to be squished by the Easter Bunny.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

I stared in horror as the Easter Bunny started to fall onto the teachers table, and Amalia.

"Amalia!" I yelled.

I moved my wand up and yelled the first thing that came to my mind.

"_Accio_ _Amalia!_"

Nothing happened for a moment then Amalia began moving sideways, gaining speed.

She sped out of the way of the bunny and flew at me. I opened my arms wide to catch her, stumbling back when she slammed into my chest, my arms closing automatically.

_Crash!_

The Great Hall literally shook as the bunny fell, landing on the teachers table, smashing it in half and breaking most of the chairs around it.

My arms started to vibrate and I realised it was Amalia. She'd begun shaking as she stared, wide eyed and open mouthed, at the bunny, and where she'd been standing, in horror.

No one said a word as they too stared at the teachers table, or what was left of it anyway.

_Click._

Everyone looked over to the corner of the Great Hall, watching as the teachers' door opened and the teachers filed in. We stared at them, identical looks of horror on our faces as they stopped and took in the disaster before them; the rubbish everywhere, the broken teachers table and a number of broken chairs, and the giant, oversized Easter Bunny.

He grinned around at everyone, his eyes twinkling.

"Look like we won't be having rabbit for dinner then," Professor Dumbledore said, chuckling.

-----

**A/N:**Corny ending I know, but oh well.

Thanks to everyone for the reviews! Much appreciated! They pushed me to get this out so soon!

"Save an Author! Leave a Review!"

Bye!


	17. Bad Luck Comes in Threes

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Seventeen: **Bad Luck Comes in Threes

_Amalia's POV_

I laid back on the grass and stretched, soaked up the sun. Because of the workload and the preparations for the ball I hadn't been outside for ages.

I listened briefly to the general chatter around me as Rose, Nikki and Rebecca talked about the upcoming ball. With just one more day left the excitement around was at an all time high.

We were finally taking a well deserved break from school, life, and the five of us had decided that the lawns around Hogwarts were the perfect place to rest. It also seems we weren't the only one to think so. There were small clusters of students all around us, talking softly amongst them selves.

Lily was lying next to be, also stretched out, trying to get as much sun as possible. She cleared her throat for the fifth time and I realised that she was trying to get someone's attention.

I opened one eye and glanced at her and found her looking directly at me.

"Yes?" I asked.

She growled softly, annoyed, and kept looking at me.

I opened the other eye and looked at her properly.

"Yes?" I asked again.

"Don't play dumb with me," she said.

I stared at her blankly, not having a clue as to what she was going on about.

She sighed and crossed her arms. This look was faintly amusing since she couldn't quite get her anger across whilst lying on the ground.

"I really have no idea what you're going on about," I told her.

"Hey guys," Nikki's voice reached us and I looked over to see the three of them standing up. "We're going to head off. We'll see you later okay?"

Lily and I both waved and, once they were gone, I closed my eyes once again.

I managed to keep my eyes closed for ten minutes; all the while Lily just stared at me. Eventually I looked at her again.

"Lily."

She sat up in annoyance.

"Oh come on! Don't tell me you don't realise! I've watched, and waited, for the whole year now and you still haven't done anything, or said anything. I thought we were friends, but you haven't told me anything. We all saw it coming light years ago, and we promised not to do anything about it, figuring you'd do it yourself, but _noooo_! _Nothing's happened!_"

"Lily." I sat up also. "I have _absolutely_ no idea what you're on about."

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"I'll give you two words." She paused.

I nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"And those words are…?"

"Sirius Black."

I stared at her.

_How much did she know? _I thought. _How long has she known?_

I made sure no emotion showed on my face before talking.

"What about him?"

She groaned and flopped face first onto the ground, banging her fists silently around her head and sat back up.

"What do you mean 'what about him'?" She all but shrieked.

She must have realised how loud she was when four groups nearby turned and looked at us briefly. She blushed slightly and ducked her head.

"Look," she said more quietly. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

I frowned at her.

"Or no way at all."

"Not an option."

I didn't say anything and we sat in silence for a while.

"Okay, look, what's the problem? We _all_ know that _you like him_, and we have it from James and Remus that he himself said he likes you."

I could feel myself blushing and I looked at Lily for a moment. She had been right. We were best friends, and I usually told her everything. Why was it so hard to tell her this one little thing?

"I… okay… well, you're right…"

She watched me eagerly, her face falling slightly when she realised that that was all she was going to get.

"I'm right about what?" She hinted.

"I may, possibly, most likely, probably, could, maybe, like him." My voice, by the end, was a whisper and Lily had to lean forward to hear me.

"Yes!" She shrieked, jumping up and doing a funny little dance, this time ignoring the strange looks she received.

"I knew it!"

She laughed and flopped back onto the ground.

"Not that wasn't so hard was it?"

I began to grin. It hadn't been as bad as I thought it would have been.

"But I don't believe that he likes me," I said quickly.

She rolled her eyes.

"'Mali, the guy's been making gaga eyes at you all year, how can you not think he likes you?"

"Margaret," I pointed out.

She shrugged that off.

"He only went out with her because you were with _Michael_." She sneered his name and I laughed.

"But... I mean... It is Sirius Black, of all people," Lily continued thoughtfully. "He isn't exactly known for his commitment to relationships, but I think he… likes you quite a lot. If you two go out it means I'll be stuck with Potter more, but, as they say, sacrifices must be made."

She trailed off, still thinking.

"Anyway." Her head shot back to me. "What are you going to do about it?"

I could feel my eyes widen.

"Do about it? Nothing!"

"We'll see," she said cryptically. "Lets head back inside, I've got to return some books to the library and I want to do it before Madam Pince closes the library."

-----

I wandered slowly through the hallways of Hogwarts. We'd found Remus, James and Peter in the library, studying for exams, and Lily had decided to stay behind with them to do some studying done as well. I'd stuck around for a few hours but I wasn't really in the mood to do any studying so I decided to go back to the Gryffindor Tower before going down to dinner.

I turned the corner and headed up the stairs to the third floor. I reached the top and took a quick look around, spotting Sirius walking towards me.

I gave a quick wave, trying to forget the conversation I'd just had with Lily.

"Hey!" I called out.

He grinned and hurried forward.

_Clank, clunk_.

"Hey!" He said, glancing over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing," he said, but his tone implied something different.

I stood on my tip-toes and looked around him, and blinked.

I lowered my feet and looked at Sirius, and blinked again.

"Uh… you do realise that you're being followed by about five pieces of armour, right?"

"Yeah, I noticed that."

I pressed my lips together and tried to hold back the laughter but a snort escaped.

He crossed his arms over his chest.

"You find this funny?" He asked.

I shook my head but another snort escaped.

I couldn't hold it any longer. I threw my head back and laughed, the sound bouncing off the walls. I was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down my face and I knew for sure that I was as red as a tomato.

"Sirius… yo… you… you're being followed by 'Tin Men'!"

I clutched my stomach, and doubled over, shaking silently and unable to breath.

Eventually I stopped laughing and I wiped the tears from my face. I looked up at Sirius to find him watching me in amazement. I didn't realise until then just how close we were standing.

"What?" I asked self consciously.

"That's the first time you've ever said my name to my face. It was always either 'Black' or 'you'."

His comment completely stopped my laughter and I stared at the ground, embarrassed that I'd let it slip.

"Oh? I never realised," I mumbled.

I finally got the courage to look up at him and saw that he was grinning at me, seeming to be quite pleased.

I bit my lip and began to smile back.

"So, Amalia, would you like to go for a walk with me and my entourage?"

I could feel my grin getting bigger by the second as he held his arm out for me to hold.

"Sure, why not… Sirius," I said, taking his arm.

We both grinned stupidly at each other as we continued down the hallway, still with the suits of armour following us. And yet at the same time I couldn't help but shake the feeling that I was being watched.

-----

"Sirius," I whispered. Saying his name was getting easier every time I said it. "You realise that we have every suit of armour on the third floor following us right?"

He grinned at me and nodded.

"Okay…"

We'd been walking around the third floor for half an hour now, talking about everything under the sun, and every round we made more suits of armour were joining the long line behind us. This gave me plenty of time to ask him why, exactly, he had them following him.

"Probably someone's idea of a prank," he said lightly, not looking too worried. "Nothing's happened for awhile so someone probably got bored."

"Oh…"

"Let's head down to dinner," Sirius suggested out of the blue, and we sped up, to get away from the suits of armour. We ran around the last corner and began to go down the stairs leading to the second floor.

We were two steps away from the bottom when Sirius stopped suddenly. I let go of his arm and jumped the rest of the way, turning to look at him when he'd landed. He was feeling around his robes for something, and I watched him curiously for a moment.

"What are you looking for?" I asked finally.

"Oh, nothing, don't worry."

"Amalia!"

I turned and saw Lily and Sirius' roommates walking towards us. I grinned at them and waved.

"Hey!" I said when they were closer.

"Where are you heading?" Lily asked.

"We're heading down to lunch. You coming with us?"

Lily, strangely enough, looked over her shoulder for a moment at the others then shrugged.

"Sure, I'm starving."

_Clank, clunk, CRASH!_

We all whirled around.

Sirius was standing at the base of the stairs and, at the top, were the suits of armour. They'd finally caught up with us and seemed intent on following Sirius downstairs.

Except they didn't have the balance or patience we had and were clumsily pushing each other. We watched, open mouthed, as one of them pushed the other and, like dominoes, they all began to fall down the stairs, straight at Sirius.

My eyes widened and, without thinking, I lunged at him, tackling him with enough force to throw him off balance and we flew out of the way of the incoming suits of armour.

The sound was deafening and I covered my ears and buried my head in Sirius' chest in a weak attempt to block the sound out.

The silence that fell on the place afterwards was almost as deafening as the fall, and I had a strange buzzing in my ears. I raised my head cautiously and found myself looking straight into Sirius' eyes.

I blinked owlishly and found I could look away, or say anything.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

_Clank, clunk, CRASH!_

The deafening sound from behind me was the only warning I received that something bad was about to happen. I didn't have time to react, and my only thought was how glad I was that Amalia was out the way.

I looked over at them to find everyone looking over my shoulder in horror, then suddenly Amalia was moving, throwing herself at me, with such force that I was thrown off balance.

I stumbled backward, my feet tangling together, and we fell down. Thankfully out the way of the suits of armour. It seems they were still intent on following me.

The sound echoing around the hallway was deafening and I could feel Amalia press her face into my chest and I put my arms around her protectively.

The crashing eventually faded and silence descended on us.

I felt Amalia list her head up and I found myself looking straight into her eyes, unable to look away.

I was also suddenly aware of every inch of as she laid on me, blinking owlishly down at me.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

"Sorry," I muttered, still unable to look away, and made to stand up, but I found that I was unable to move.

Sirius had his arms around me in an iron grip.

"Um…" I mumbled.

"Sirius? Amalia? Are you guys okay?" I heard Remus' voice from somewhere behind me.

His voice seemed to break whatever charm it was that we were under and Sirius let go of me. We both jumped up and away from each other. Or at least we tried but when we went to move away from each other, we moved in the same direction, bringing us closer together instead of further apart.

I stumbled into him and he reached out to steady me.

"Okay?" He asked softly.

I nodded and turned to look at the wreckage. It looked like a disaster area; every piece of armour was broken and lay in one big heap of metal.

Through the dust that they'd brought up I could see everyone on the other side of the pile of broken armour. Sometime during the disaster James had grabbed Lily and dragged her further away from the mess, where they now stood together and he still had his arm innocently around her waist.

Peter and Remus were both standing close to the pile of armour, craning their necks to find us. I gave a small wave to get their attention and relief was visible on both of their faces.

"Well, what do we have here," a snide voiced asked from behind me and Sirius.

We both turned and looked and found Filch and Mrs Norris behind us, Filch looking a tad too gleeful.

"I think I'll be taking _all_ of you to see the headmaster," he told us, his grin widening.

-----

Professor Dumbledore looked over his glass at the six of us. He hadn't said a word since we'd arrived but had listened patiently as we explained what had happened.

This was the second time in a month that we'd been in here and, considering that fact that I'd never been in here before, that was a lot to me.

I took a quick glance around and saw that no one seemed to be affected by this. They all seemed relaxed.

I could feel my hand shaking so I gripped it into a fist. I looked down in surprise when I felt something grab it, pressing slightly until I loosened my fist and threading their fingers through mine.

I followed the arm that was attached to the hand and found myself looking at Sirius, who was focused solely on Professor Dumbledore. He rubbed his thumb along mine and the feeling was so nice I could feel my nervousness and tension disappearing.

I quickly turned back to Professor Dumbledore as he began to speak.

"Your story is interesting, to say the least. Someone bewitching the armour to follow anyone who walked past it. I've seen this happen before, fortunately, and I'm glad that no one was hurt. I've sent some teachers up and they've put them all back where they came, and you'll be glad to know that no harm has come to them."

He smiled suddenly and the twinkle returned.

"It's probably best if you lot get back to the Tower, I'll send some food up, while I break the bad news to Filch about your punishment, or lack of."

We were clearly dismissed and I followed everyone's lead as they got up. Sirius grinned at me and gave my hand a squeeze before letting it go.

We all started back to the Tower in silence and I felt a headache coming on.

"You guys go ahead," I said, breaking the silence. "I'm going to go get a headache potion from madam Pomfrey."

"Okay," Lily said and everyone nodded.

I could feel Sirius watching me worriedly as I turned and headed back the way we'd come.

-----

_Peter's POV_

We all sat silently on the chairs around the fireplace. It had been unanimously agreed that we would all wait up for Amalia.

That had been two hours ago and even I could see the worry on everyone's faces.

I didn't really know Amalia, or any of her friends for that matter, and I'd never really thought about them as anything more than 'girls that Sirius and James liked'.

After another five minutes of just sitting there I decided to break the silence.

"So…" Everyone turned to look at me. "Is everyone ready for tomorrow?"

I hadn't actually expected them to listen to me, but seeing the relief on their faces that someone was putting in the effort to distract them made me feel proud.

"I'm all ready," Lily said, grinning at me.

Remus and Sirius nodded, the latter returning to frown into the fire.

James turned and looked at Lily.

"Who are you going with?" He asked curiously.

She shrugged and pulled a face.

"My partner for Ancient Runes."

"Adam?" James looked shocked. "Why in the world are you going with him?"

I could see that James was beginning to get on Lily's nerves.

"Because, _Potter_, he was the first one to ask me."

We all lapsed into silence again and I decided to take another shot at distracting them.

"Do you guys remember the saying, 'Bad Luck Comes in Threes'? I mean, first Amalia's nearly squished by that Easter Bunny, and then Sirius is nearly squished by those suits of armour…"

I trailed off when I saw the looks of horror on everyone's faces.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I hurried back to the Tower, the headache potion tucked safely in my pocket. I'd been there longer that I thought I would be; Madam Pomfrey had run out of the potion and had needed to make some more.

I could tell that it was fairly late, and I didn't want to get into any trouble for being out of bed after hours. Even so, I had a note from Madam Pomfrey explaining why.

The lights along this particular hallway were spaced far apart, with thick, black darkness between each of them. It kinda made me nervous. Who knew what was hidden in the darkness.

I hurried along, turned the corner and found another hallway with even less lighting.

"Amalia."

I whirled around at the sound of my name, my heart in my throat. I knew that voice.

I looked into the darkness nervously and bit back a scream when I saw the outline of someone in the darkness, the light behind them.

"Michael?"

-----

**A/N: **oohhh :P well how was that chapter? A lot happened, I know, but what can I say, Saturday is a busy day (whoa, rhyme). There was more to this chapter but I decided that I'll just put it up tomorrow as a small chapter :D And that'll make three chapters!

I also realised that throughout this story I've never once given Peter his own POV, and I thought that that was a bit mean, so I managed to put one in here.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. It wasn't the best I know, so I hope this one is much better!

Also a BIG thanks for **X'andirth **who gave me some _brilliant!_ suggestions for this chapter, and the last one! I had to change them slightly to fit into the theme, but they still helped me greatly!

"Save an Author! Leave a Review!"

Bye!


	18. An UnWelcome Visitor

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

-----

**Chapter Eighteen: **An Un-Welcome Visitor

_Amalia's POV_

_I hurried back to the Tower, the headache potion tucked safely in my pocket. I'd been there longer that I thought I would be; Madam Pomfrey had run out of the potion and had needed to make some more._

_I could tell that it was fairly late, and I didn't want to get into any trouble for being out of bed after hours. Even so, I had a note from Madam Pomfrey explaining why._

_The lights along this particular hallway were spaced far apart, with thick, black darkness between each of them. It kinda made me nervous. Who knew what was hidden in the darkness._

_I hurried along, turned the corner and found another hallway with even less lighting._

_"Amalia."_

_I whirled around at the sound of my name, my heart in my throat. I knew that voice._

_I looked into the darkness nervously and bit back a scream when I saw the outline of someone in the darkness, the light behind them._

"Michael?"

The outline got closer and he stepped out into the light.

"How have you been?" I asked nervously. I wasn't sure what to say, what to do. I hadn't spoken to him properly since we'd broken up.

He didn't answer me, instead he just stepped closer.

I didn't like the look he had in his eyes.

I cleared my throat and took a step back.

"B… been keeping busy?"

He ignored my question.

"I heard you're going to the Ball with Potter," he sneered.

I nodded and had to will myself to stop when I found, in my nervousness, I couldn't stop nodding.

"Y… yeah."

"I don't want you to go with him," he stated calmly, confidently.

I frowned. "Well I'm afraid I already said I would."

"Tell him you changed your mind.'

I stared at him. "Why?"

He stepped closer again and I had to resist the urge to back further away.

"Because you're going to go with _me_," he snarled.

"No I'm not," I snapped. "We're not going out anymore, so I'm not going to go with you."

"But we could go out again," he said.

"No we couldn't," I said. "Did you forget why we broke up or something?'

Michael glared at me angrily, his hands clenching into fists.

"Look," I said, trying to remain calm and sound tactful. "Even if what had happened hadn't happened, I still don't want to go out with you, or go to the ball with you."

Words seemed to be beyond him and he took a larger step forward, backing me into the nearby wall and effectively blocking off any chance I had of escaping.

My back was pressed against the stone wall, we were in some random, barely ever used, hallway, and there was a distinct lack of light around. Screaming wouldn't help, there was no one around, everyone was in bed.

Fear seemed to be blocking my airway as I struggled to breathe and remain calm, my mind flashing back to the last time I'd been alone with Michael. Only that time he'd been drinking; this time he was completely coherent.

There was no Remus around this time to save me.

"I already told you it was an accident," Michael growled. "I want to go out with you."

I watched, almost in fascination, as a vein throbbed in his forehead. His entire face had gone a bright red. His hand shot out and grabbed the top of my arm, dragging me to him. He brought his face down to my level and growled again. I felt his breath on my face and I tried to remember to breathe.

"I _will not_ take no for an answer!"

"Oh, I think you will," a new voice said from behind Michael.

Michael spun around, dragging me with him, his grip on my arm tightening painfully. I almost jumped with relief when I saw who was there.

Sirius.

A very angry looking Sirius.

Michael shoved me to the side. I stumbled, my feet tripping over each other, and fell to the ground. I groaned and stood up again.

Michael advanced on Sirius, his wand out, while Sirius just stood there calmly, his wand nowhere to be seen.

"Butt out Black," Michael snarled, continuing to advance. "This is between my girlfriend and me."

Sirius snorted.

"Except we both know that she's _not _your girlfriend_."_

Michaels face seemed to have transformed into a hideous mask. His face was completely red, there were at least three or four veins visibly throbbing in his head, and his hand was clenched so tight around his wand; it looked like it would snap any second now.

_How did I ever think he was cute or sweet or nice?_ I thought briefly before focusing back on what was happening right in front of me.

Sirius didn't seem fazed though. He just stood there calmly, until Michael was less than two feel away from him.

"Well I have a question for you," Michael said, taking a deep breathe, trying to calm down. "Why would you care about a _slut_ like her?"

Sirius' eyes flashed and his fist shot out, connecting with Michaels' nose with a satisfying crunch.

Michael went down like a rock in water, his hands covering his now broken nose. Blood dripped down the side of his mouth, falling to the floor.

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you." Sirius reached down, grabbed the front of Michaels' robes, dragged him up into a standing position and shoved him against the wall opposite me. "You claim to be a man? Start acting like one."

Sirius let go of Michaels robes, letting him fall back to the ground, and walked over to where I stood, semi-frozen in shock, against the wall.

He looked at me for a moment, his eyes guarded.

"Are you okay?"

I could only nod.

"Are you hurt?"

I shook my head.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second.

"How's your hand?" I croaked out.

He smiled grimly.

"Better than his nose."

We both turned to look at Michael as he dragged himself up and disappeared into the darkness without a backward glance.

Silence descended on the hallway.

"How did you find me?" I asked after a moment.

"Luck," he said, his tone black.

Without another word he grabbed my hand and led me down the hallway, in the opposite direction Michael had gone. I assumed we were going back to the Tower.

"Come on, I'm late."

He started walking faster, causing me to break into a run just to keep up with his long strides.

"Late for what?" I asked, puffing.

He ignored my question and dragged me up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He seemed to be angry, for some reason I couldn't work out.

"Sirius!" I yanked my hand out of his and stopped walking.

He turned around and reached for my hand again, but I backed out of the way, holding my hands behind my back.

"Late for what?" I asked again. I wasn't sure why, but it bugged me that everyone kept ignoring my questions.

He sighed and ran his hand over his face.

"It doesn't matter. I found you now. Everyone was worried… We were looking for you…"

That wasn't really an answer.

"Okay, then answer me this. Why are you angry?"

He glared at me for a moment.

"Because you… only you… how do you get into these situations? How? And what did you see in him? He's an annoying git, and a bully. There are… many… guys out there that would have been better."

I stared at him wide eyed as he stopped to take a breath.

"Uh…"

"Look, I'm sorry, it's just… I could really hurt him right now… Remus told me what he did to you before and now tonight..."

He trailed off and I realised why he was angry. It wasn't with me, it was with Michael. He was just being protective.

I grinned at him, happy, and grabbed his hand, leading him along the hallway. We walked the rest of the way in silence, still holding hands, and neither of us said anything as we entered the Tower.

Lily was immediately in front of me, talking, telling me how worried they had all been, but I only had eyes for Sirius. He slipped his hand out of mine and headed over to his friends.

I watched as he walked over to where his friends were sitting, watching us. He said something to them and they disappeared up the stairs to their room.

Lily grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the vacated chairs.

"What happened?" She asked.

I told her about meeting up with Michael, what he'd said and how Sirius had appeared, almost out of nowhere, to save me.

She didn't interrupt me during my story and she sat there thoughtfully afterwards.

"He, Sirius, mentioned that he was looking for me, said something about you guys being worried…"

Lily nodded absentmindedly, chewing on her thumb nail.

"Yeah. After you'd been gone for over two hours, when it should have taken no more than half an hour to get the potion, Peter said something about bad luck coming in threes, so we went out looking for you but couldn't find you anywhere. What I want to know is, how did Sirius find you so quickly, after we'd looked everywhere for you. When we'd come back Remus had suddenly run upstairs and returned with a piece of parchment. They were looking at it and the next second Sirius had shot out of here like someone was going after him best friend, yelling that he'd be back in five minutes."

"Remus' gift," I said.

"What?"

"I'm not sure what it is, but Sirius said a while back that Remus had a 'gift' which helps them find things… I don't know."

I stifled a yawn and saw that Lily was doing the same.

"Well, why don't we go to bed? It's the Ball tomorrow night, we're going to need our beauty sleep."

I grinned at her and led the way up the stairs.

"You know, I just realised I never got my dinner from Professor Dumbledore."

-----

**A/N: **Hmm, shortest chapter yet, but oh well. I hope this lived up to the cliffie I left last chapter. But please tell me what you thought!

Next chapter: the Ball!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Bye!


	19. Preparations

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

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**Chapter Nineteen: **Preparations

_Amalia's POV_

"Up! Up! Up!" Someone yelled, shaking me.

I groaned and rolled away from the voice, burying my head under my pillow and pulling my blanket up further to snuggle into. I was having such a nice dream.

-----

I was on a warm beach somewhere. It wasn't too hot or too cold, it was perfect. I had my shoes off and my hair was blowing in the light breeze, and I was with someone.

I could only see his back, but he was tall, with pale, smooth skin that failed to hide the muscles underneath. He had smooth black hair reaching past his ears and he was playing with a large dog. The dog reminded me of something, but I couldn't put my finger on what.

I watched the scene in amusement, but stayed as far away as possible; I wasn't the biggest fan of dogs, big or small, but this dog seemed friendly enough, and I knew that the man I was with wouldn't let it hurt me.

He threw a stick down the beach and the dog sprinted after it. He turned toward me and I stared in slight shock at the smiling face.

"Aren't you going to join in?" Sirius asked and I felt a flutter of happiness in my stomach as I walked forward to accept his outstretched hand.

-----

"Up!" Someone shrieked in my ear as they grabbed my blanket and pillow, yanking them away from me.

I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes, immediately forgetting the dream. When I was finally able to see I stared in open-mouthed disbelief at the disaster that was my room. Clothes, hair products and make-up covered every available inch of the room. Through the open doorway I could see Nikki in the bathroom fiddling with her hair.

"Hurry up!" Rose said as she hurried past, her wand in her hand and a look on her face that said that she was ready for war. "We only have ten hours until the ball."

I watched her blankly as she headed for Lily's bed. It seems I wasn't the only one who wanted to sleep in. The sight before me was almost comical, and it would have been had I been more awake.

Lily was half in, half out of her bed. She had grabbed hold of her mattress in a fit of stubbornness as Rebecca, who had her by her ankles, tried to pull her off her bed.

Rebecca gave up and let go of her, hurrying out of the room as Rose went up to Lily. With a flick of her wand she sent her flying, landing in a heap in the middle of the room.

Rose turned and looked at me, raising her eyebrows and wand threateningly. I didn't need any further prodding as I jumped out of bed and stood there stupidly, not sure what to do.

I looked at Rose for assistance.

"Start getting ready!" She snapped.

"Rose, it's eight in the morning. We have plenty of time," Lily tried to reason with the small blonde.

Rose's mouth dropped open.

"Do you have any idea what we have to do today? We don't nearly have enough time as it is!" She shrieked and I took a step back. As she turned to Lily, who had started giggling, and glared at her I caught Lily's eye and twirled my finger around my temple, dropping my hand when she turned back to me. "We have to have a shower, wash, dry and cut our hair, shave, clean our nails, paint them, put a mask on for an hour, pedicures, manicures, facials, find the right make-up, find the right hair style, practice the hair style, make sure the dress is okay and still looks good…"

I tuned her out as the list got longer and longer, regretting even bringing the topic up.

"… now, I want the both of you to go down and have a _big_ breakfast, because it's the only thing you'll be eating today. _And don't dawdle._"

She shoved the both of us out the door without waiting for an answer, slamming it shut behind us. As we walked down the hallway I became aware that someone had put a Wireless out in the hallway, blaring the music. I stayed to the side of the hallway as girls hurried back and forth between rooms, borrowing make-up and such and asking for advice.

I thought briefly about how the guys probably wouldn't be too happy about the noise. They didn't have to do anything to get ready so they could sleep in then, five minuted before meeting time, just get dressed in their dress robes, or whatever it is they're wearing, and make sure they meet us at the right time.

We started down the stairs, Lily nearly tripping over some clothes someone had left out, stopping to stare when we reached the bottom. It seemed like nearly every guy in Gryffindor were down there, sleepily trying to keep busy.

I spotted Peter and Remus on the far side of the room and gave a little wave to get their attention. They got up and came over to where Lily and I stood next to the portrait door. I blushed when I saw Sirius, and James, follow them, realising that both Lily and I were still wearing our pyjamas. I glanced out the corner of my eye for Lily's reaction and she seemed to be as red as me. I was tempted to go back and change, but something told me that Rose probably wouldn't let us leave the room again if we did.

"Hey guys," I said nervously, pulling down the bottom of the large t-shirt I called my pyjamas. Lily wore a small tank top and some shorts. "What are you guys doing up so early?"

We both went red again and coughed awkwardly when we saw that their attention was elsewhere.

Remus answered first, also blushing as he dragged his eyes away from our legs. James and Sirius stared openly at them, neither seeming to be aware of their surroundings, or the fact that they had stopped breathing. Peter went bright red and hurried away, disappearing into the crowd.

"We… uh… we couldn't sleep… your… legs… I mean music! Your music… is too smooth… I mean too loud!" he choked out the last of the sentence and hurried after Peter.

"Hey! Nice legs!" Someone shouted.

James and Sirius snapped out of their tranfixed state and turned angrily to the person who'd shouted at us.

"Keep your eyes and comments to yourself you pervert," James snapped while Sirius growled his agreement.

Lily raised her eyes at me and nodded her head to the portrait door. I followed her out the hole as the argument over who's more of a pervert heated up behind us.

"That was interesting," Lily murmured.

"Yes it was."

We hurried down the hallway and started down the stairs that would take us in the most direct path to the Great Hall. The further down we got the more people we began to see, and it seems that Gryffindor wasn't the only house up and about. Neither were we the only people running around in our pyjamas.

"Hello Lily," a soft voice said from behind us. "Amalia."

I turned and stared in slight disbelief at the person who stood leaning against the wall.

"Hey Severus!" Lily said happily.

I smiled and gave him a small wave.

I didn't mind Severus Snape, and I was polite to him whenever I saw him, saying hi if we passed in the hallways, but he was more Lily's friend than mine.

"Hey you two, wait up."

I winced as I began to imagine the horror in store for us.

I sent Severus an apologetic smile as he pushed away from the wall and into the eyesight of the two people running up.

"Snivellus," James spat.

"Potter," Severus sneered back. He turned to Lily. "It was nice seeing you Lily."

He glanced at James for a second, and I knew he was going to do something to provoke him.

He did.

"Bye Lily," he said softly. Then quite deliberately he looked her up and down.

Lily didn't notice, she was too busy glaring at James, but James noticed alright. I never knew that a face could turn such a dark red colour. He growled and took a step forward as Severus disappeared down the stairs, Sirius putting his arm out to hold him back. I noticed, though, that he too looked a bit red.

"Potter, you prat," Lily snarled. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

"Saving you from that grease ball." He looked at her blankly, not seeming to realise what was so bad about that statement.

"That 'grease ball'," she said sarcastically. "Is my _friend_."

She shrieked the last word and stormed down the stairs and out of sight, James running after her.

I looked after them for a moment then back at Sirius. He was staring at me, not seeming to have noticed that we were alone. I opened my mouth to say something, what I don't know, but he beat me to it.

"Your hair looks nice like that," he said softly, reaching a hand out to touch some stray strands that had fallen out from behind my ear.

I blushed and reached a hand up to fiddle with the bunch that he had just touched. It was what I called my bed hair and I'd never thought it looked that good, but then again I was slightly biased.

"_Sirius!_" A shrill voice shrieked.

I turned around, startled, and saw Margaret storming down the hallway.

"Ah shit," Sirius muttered.

I took this as my cue to leave and hurried down the stairs.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

"Ah shit," I muttered, watching as Margaret stormed over to me.

I saw Amalia send me an apologetic look and disappear down the stairs, before turning back to the angry figure of my girlfriend.

"What do you think you're doing," she yelled, closer now.

"I'm talking to someone."

"I can see that," she snapped, her hands clenching into fists. "You were talking to _her_."

"_She _had a name," I pointed out in annoyance.

I didn't like what I was going to have to do, but lately Margaret had been pushing all the wrong buttons. I'd been planning on breaking up with her a day or two after the ball, but now seemed as perfect a time as any.

"I don't care if _she_ has a name; tell me why were you talking to her?"

I ignored her demand.

"Margaret, I think we need to talk."

She blinked and looked at me.

"Yes?"

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore."

-----

_Amalia's POV_

I wandered slowly down the hallway, under the pretence that I wasn't in any hurry, but I knew that were was another reason.

I was hoping that Sirius would hurry and catch up.

I neared the next staircase and glanced over my shoulder, not seeing anyone behind me.

The shriek that echoed up and down the hallway in the next second sent chills down my spine, and I looked around trying to find the source of the scream.

"_You bastard_," someone screeched.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

"_You bastard_," Margaret screeched, her face going red.

I dodged out the way as she took a swing at me. She seemed to realise that that was wasted and instead reached for her wand. I threw my hands out and grabbed her wrists before she could get it.

"Margaret, listen to me." She struggled to get away but I held on until she calmed down enough for me to talk and stood there glaring at me angrily. "I've been thinking about this for awhile… a long while, and I'd planned on doing it sometime after the Ball, but… certain things have happened to change things and…"

"This is about _her_ isn't it?"

"If by her you mean Amalia, no it's not." She looked at me in disbelief. "I just don't think we're working out and…"

"Oh for crying out loud," she snapped, yanking her wrists out of grasp. I watched her warily as she took a step forward. "You can't even give me a decent lie. This is about her, at least admit that."

"Fine! It is! It's all about her! Happy now?"

"Oh, very," she snarled, beginning to turn away but stopping and looking back at me. "But you're not leaving me high and dry for the Ball. We go together as planned."

She turned and stormed away and I headed down the stairs to the Great Hall.

-----

_Amalia's POV_

"…_, listen to me. I've been thinking about this for awhile… a long while, and I'd planned on doing it sometime after the Ball, but… certain things have happened to change things and…"_

"_This is about her isn't it?"_

"… _no it's not. I just don't think we're working out and…"_

"_Oh for … out loud. You can't … give me a decent lie. This … about her, at … admit that."_

"_Fine! It is! It's all about her! Happy now?"_

"_Oh, very. But you're … leaving me high and … for the Ball. We go … as planned."_

I wandered into the Great Hall feeling slightly shocked and majorly winded. After I'd heard the shriek I'd headed back up the hallway to find out what was going on but hadn't gone far when I'd heard Sirius and Margaret fighting. When I'd heard it coming to an end I'd legged it back the way I'd come and run the rest of the way to the Great Hall.

I'd felt momentarily bad for eavesdropping, but they weren't exactly whispering so it's not like I could help it.

I say down across from Lily, who was glaring into the bowl of cereal in front of her, and next to James, who was moodily destroying a large stack of pancakes.

I grabbed a piece of toast and stared at it, not bothering to try and eat it.

_Who was the girl that Sirius broke up with Margaret over?_

I sighed and hunched my shoulder. My earlier thoughts had been right. He didn't like me, that much was obvious. I was just going to have to try harder to get over him. I'll need to tell Lily that I'd been joking yesterday as well. But maybe… what if he had…? For me?

"Hey guys," Sirius said as he sat down next to Lily and reached for a muffin.

No one answered him and we all just sat in our seats, no one eating anything, all of us off in our own little worlds.

"What the _hell_ do you two think you're doing? I sent you out for a _quick_ breakfast _and you've sat there for nearly two hours and you still haven't eaten a thing!_"

I, and nearly everyone in the Great Hall, including the teachers, stared at Rose as she stormed into the Great Hall, shrieked at us and grabbed our arms, dragging us out the room. I was vaguely aware of James and Sirius standing up and following us.

As we were exiting I bumped into someone. I looked over and saw that it was Margaret. She glared at me angrily, almost hatefully and opened her mouth to say something.

"Leave her alone Margaret," Sirius said, stepping forward so that he stood towering behind me.

She closer her mouth and stalked over to the table without looking back.

I didn't have time to say anything to Sirius as Rose tightened her grip on our arms and dragged us, running, back to the Tower.

-----

"Rose," I said tentatively. "Is that really necessary?"

She didn't answer me, instead just dragging me from the bathroom, my wet hair dripping everywhere.

"Okay, we'll do this the muggle way, you'll get the best results, and use some magical products. Did you use the shampoo and conditioner I gave you?"

I nodded and she dragged me over to what use to be my bed but which was now covering in dozens of different hair products. She rummaged through them, chucking the ones' she didn't want off to the side.

"Okay," she began. "Your hair has a slight natural wave to it, so we'll use this product to define it more. This you'll put in after and it will give it shine and make it smooth and soft, also getting rid of any split ends and any frizz. This product is specifically for people with brown hair and it will make it look browner and nicer. Also, this last product will help your hair dry quicker, but still keeping things natural. Now all you have to do is put a small glob of each product into your hand and run it through your hair. For best results don't go near your scalp, or you'll just get oily quicker."

She didn't wait for a reply, shoving the products into my arms and grabbing Lily, dragging her into the bathroom. She muttered something about not having time to look after us when she had herself to do as she closed the door behind Lily.

I did as she had instructed, getting it in my hair quickly before it had time to dry too much.

So far we'd narrowed the large list that Rose had named earlier down to only a few. I'd had my legs, underarms and other, more sensitive places, waxed, and I still couldn't walk properly, my hair washed and trimmed, a pedicure, a facial and the hour long mask. I'd told Rose that I was not going to have any make-up on and I wouldn't paint my nails either. Lily had said she didn't want that either and, while she hadn't been too happy about it, there wasn't a lot Rose could do, thankfully.

Admittedly, my skin did feel a whole lot nicer, and it was now blemish free. I was also surprised how the time had flown whilst we had gone though our own personal hell. It was now four in the afternoon; two hours left until the ball started, and I could feel the nervous tension building up in my shoulders and stomach.

"Okay, I'm coming in!" Rose yelled as she opened the bathroom door, holding out the wax strips.

I chuckled quietly to myself as I got my dress out of where I'd stored it after buying it and spread it out on the only bed not covered in mess. Rose's, funnily enough.

I fingered the material absentmindedly and smiled. The dress really was quite pretty; I'm glad that I got it.

"_Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!_"

A loud scream from the bathroom cut through the chatter and music and everyone winced sympathetically, seeming to realise what had just happened.

I grinned at Nikki and Rebecca as they came in, looking almost ready to the Ball. I hadn't seen them all day.

"Lily?" Nikki asked.

I nodded as Rebecca laughed.

"We heard that scream all the way over in the guys' area," Rebecca grinned. "You should have seen the terrified looks on their faces. I think they thought we were going to torture them or something."

"What were you doing over there?" I asked.

"Making sure that they were getting ready."

I nodded, causing a strand of my hair to fall across my face. I stared at it in shock. It was already dry. It looked soft and smooth, very brown and shiny and there was absolutely no frizz.

Nikki saw my shocked look and passed me her mirror.

My mouth dropped open and I moved the mirror around, trying to see my hair from every angle. I loved it! It fell in gentle waves down my back, and I finally noticed just how long it had gotten over the year.

The bathroom door opened with a snap and Rose came out, dragging Lily behind her, who was walking like she'd sat on a horse all day, and going on to tell her which hair products to use. She waited for Lily to do as she said and when she was done we all stood around in silence.

"You do realise," Lily said. "That even though we went through this _torture_ the ball will be over in eight hours and we'll go back to normal again tomorrow."

Rose, Nikki and Rebecca all grinned and nodded, not fazed by Lily's logic.

"Okay… we're done!" Rose said happily. "All we have to do is get these dresses on, make sure they're okay, and then we wait to meet our partners." Her gaze sharpened as they rested on me. "How are you going to make your entrance into the Common Room?"

I stared at her blankly.

"What?" I asked.

"You're not just going to walk in there and then leave, are you?"

"Yes."

She let out a little shriek.

"_What?_"

"Rose, I don't like making entrances or having peoples' attention on me," I said, trying to calm her down.

"No, no, no! You have to make an entrance so that your partner can watch you and be _glad_ that he chose you for his partner."

I blinked at her. I wasn't going with James because I like liked him, I was going with him because neither of us had anyone to go with. If I was going with S…

I shook my head.

"Rose, I don't want to make an entrance. And why are you just picking on me? What about Nikki and Rebecca and Lily?"

"Their dates aren't meeting them in the Common Room. They're leaving before us to meet them in the Entrance Hall."

I grumbled under my breath but she seemed to have let the subject drop.

"Okay everyone," Rebecca ordered. "Get dressed."

Fifteen minutes later we were all back in the room, completely dressed and ready to go. I was contemplating heading down there now but Rose seemed to have read my mind and she stood just off to the side of the door, talking to Nikki.

There had been, thankfully, no problems for any of us with the dresses or shoes. Lily had loaned me a small pair of simple but pretty earrings and I was wearing the necklace and bracelet set that I'd gotten for my fourteenth birthday from my brother.

"Lily," I asked quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

I bit my lip. If I didn't put this delicately she'd rip me to shreds.

"Do you remember yesterday how I'd told you about S… who I liked?"

She nodded.

"And how you'd blackmailed me into it by pulling the 'we're best friends' line?"

She looked at me warily.

"If you liked… someone, would you tell me?"

She watched me for a moment, not saying anything.

"Or would you maybe wait until you were more… sure of how you felt?"

She nodded slightly and I grinned at her.

"Okay, try to remember that ey?"

We stood around talking for another fifteen minutes and I noticed that the music that had been playing all day had been turned off and the general chatter outside had died down. There was less than fifteen minutes until we had to meet with our partners.

"Okay Lily, we're heading down now, did you want to come with us?" Nikki called over.

"Sure."

Hurriedly making sure she had everything, she grabbed her bag and followed Nikki and Rebecca out the door.

"Oh Lily," I said as she left the room. She stopped and looked back at me. "Say hi to James for me would you?"

I grinned as her face went slightly red and she hurried out of sight.

And I was left with Rose, who was looking at me like she was intent on winning a war.

-----

_Sirius' POV_

I stood with James and Remus, leaning stiffly against the wall across from the staircase leading to the girls' rooms. Margaret had yet to turn up, as did Amalia and Rose.

I chuckled when I remembered the look on James' face when Lily had come down. The poor bloke looked like he'd been about to faint and had actually swayed when Lily had come over briefly to tell him Amalia said hi.

Peter had left earlier as well to meet with his date. He had refused to tell us who he was going with, so all we knew was that she was from some other house. That left the three of us and about five other people in the Common Room.

"_No Rose!_"

The three of us turned our attentions to the staircase when we heard Amalia's voice, but neither she nor Rose appeared.

I saw Remus wipe his hands nervously on his dress robe and realised that I had the urge to do so as well.

"_Let go of me!_"

We chuckled, wondering what exactly was going on.

"_Please Amalia!_" Rose said. It seemed to me that their voices were louder, but that could have been my imagination.

"_Okay fine! On one condition, you go first and I'll follow right behind_."

We couldn't hear Rose's reply but the sound of footsteps alerted us that she must have agreed with Amalia's request.

Remus gasped as she stepped down the stairs and headed straight over to him, neither seeming to be aware of the small group of people in the room. They grinned at each other and he offered her his arm, disappearing out the portrait door.

I turned back to the staircase and I was vaguely aware of James slipping away, out the door.

Amalia walked down the stairs, not going slowly like Rose had and looking slightly peeved and embarrassed.

Someone on the far side of the room whistled and I had the urge to knock his teeth out.

She looked around the room for a moment and, not spotting James, walked over to me. I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," I said back.

We stared at each other for a moment.

"You're looking pretty hansom today," she said, her hands clenching into fists and a blush growing on her cheeks.

I smiled down at her. Seeing her nervous reaction gave me some hope and confidence for later.

"You look beautiful," I said softly.

I stared into her eyes and the rest of the room faded away. I found myself leaning forward, closing the gap between us. Close enough to feel her breath on my mouth.

I wanted to kiss her.

-----

**A/N:** Okay, I know I said that this chapter was the ball, but I'd forgotten about the whole getting ready for the ball aspect. And I know I got this out pretty soon... but I was bored today and felt like writing :D

I promise that the next chapter will be the ball!

Hope you liked it!

Thanks for the reviews for the last, teeny-tiny, chapter!

Bye!


	20. The Easter Ball

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

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**Chapter Twenty: **The Easter Ball

_Amalia's POV_

I wasn't a very confident person. It takes me ages to make a decision and I doubt myself constantly. The only thing that I doubted more than myself were the people around me. I don't know what they think, don't see what they see, so that meant I couldn't completely trust them or put my confidence in them.

On this occasion, however, I was confident of two things.

1. Sirius Black wanted to kiss me.

2. I wanted to kiss Sirius Black.

I stood and waited in anticipation as his head got closer and closer to mine.

My breath was coming out in short gasps, my hands were sweating and my legs were locked into place. I don't think I could have moved if my life depended on it. On top of all this I couldn't keep a coherent thought in my head.

He was now close enough for me to feel his breath on my face, on my lips. It smelt of mint, as though he had recently brushed his teeth. I could almost taste it.

I stared into his eyes as he paused, barely two inches left between us. He had the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen, and the most distinct eye colour. I watched in fascination as his pupils began to dilate, so much that there was barely any grey left. I could feel my own eye lids getting heavier and I tried as hard as possible to resist the urge to close both them and the gap between us.

His eyes flicked back and forth between mine, searching, waiting for something.

I could feel the warmth of his hands as they settled lightly around my waist, pulling me forward ever so slightly. He stood there for a moment, still waiting for something.

It dawned on me that he was waiting for my reaction, to see if I would push him away or not. I wanted to give him a sign, telling him that it was all a-okay, but I wasn't sure what to do, what to say, so instead I just closed my eyes.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

The sound behind me didn't register for a second as I forced my eyes back open and stared at him incomprehensively. I could feel my hands sweating and my breathing had become shallower. My heart was pounding so loudly I was surprised he couldn't hear it from where he was standing.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

The sound got louder, pulling me back to reality, and I jerked away from Sirius, staring at him in shock.

_What were we doing?_ I thought a tad hysterically. _No, no, no, no, no!_

I looked over to the sound of the insistent tapping and saw Margaret, her arms folded across her chest and her foot tapping angrily. I heard Sirius groan quietly and I felt air rush back inside, leaving me feeling slightly dizzy and light headed.

"Where's James?" I croaked out.

I noticed his hands tightened slightly as he straightened up. My waist felt cold as he removed his hands and I shivered.

"Just outside, I think," he said, his voice raspy.

I nodded and had to will my legs to move as I quickly hurried to the portrait door. I didn't look back, not wanting to see the looks on their faces.

-----

"Amalia."

I turned and saw James hurrying down the hallway after me.

"Wait up. What's the rush? You can't go without your date," he said grinning at me and offering his arm to me.

I didn't say anything as I took him up on his offer and we continued down the hallway. I'd seen the two figures in the distance; two figured I didn't particularly feel like seeing at the moment.

"Where were you?" I snapped, annoyed with him. The way I saw it, this was entirely his fault. If he hadn't disappeared I wouldn't have had to ask Sirius where he was and none of this would have happened. I wouldn't be standing here thinking about how cold my waist felt, how black dress robes really suited some people, or how I suddenly felt like a mint ice cream.

"I uh… had to check something… outside. I wasn't gone that long." He looked down at me slyly as we descended to another level. "Did something happen while I was gone?"

"_No!_" I snapped, but he didn't look convinced.

"Look, Sirius and Margaret have been behind us the whole time, let's wait for them." I gritted my teeth as he stopped in the middle of the hallway, his hand grabbing onto mine to prevent me from going any further. I didn't like his tone of voice, or the grin he had on his face.

_The git's up to something_, I thought as I forced myself to turn around and smile politely at the approaching couple.

"Padfoot," James said happily. "Margaret. Fancy meeting you two here. Amalia, look who's here!"

Sirius grunted and I felt myself going red when I realised he was staring at me, kinda like he was trying to work something out. Like one of those questions where you knew the answer but no matter how you twisted it around you just couldn't get it to look or sound right.

I glanced at Margaret, and found yet another place I couldn't look. She stood there glaring daggers at me, her hands clenched into fists. I was sure that if looks could kill, I'd be nothing more than a pile of dust on the floor right now. If I didn't know better I'd swear she was already plotting my eventual demise.

"Well lets' head down then," James suggested, sounding slightly put off. It seems whatever he was up to wasn't exactly going quite to plan.

The four of us wandered the rest of the way down to the Great Hall with James attempting to make conversation along the way, but giving up after a few tries when he got no response from any of us. We eventually settled into an awkward silence that lasted the rest of the walk.

-----

"Wow," I said softly as we entered the Great Hall.

It seemed that the Prefects had finished the decorating of the Great Hall sometime during the afternoon, most likely with magic this time, and it was a sight to behold, if a tad gaudy. The large House tables we usually sat at every day were gone, replaced with hundreds of smaller tables, each shaped as Easter eggs and covered in metallic coloured table clothes. Around each table were eight chairs. The giant Easter Bunny stood proudly behind the teachers table, and if I didn't know better I could have sworn it was moving.

The best part of it all was the decoration of the ceiling. Instead of the usual image of a night sky it had been replaced with an image of a bright sky, and floating around everywhere were thousands of Easter eggs. If I'd been tall enough, I'm sure that I could have grabbed one.

"Guys, over here!"

I felt myself being dragged over to where Lily sat with her date; she'd obviously spent the last fifteen minutes saving the table for us, judging from the annoyed look on her face. I was surprised to see a matching look of annoyance on her dates face as well.

_I wonder what's up with him?_ I thought briefly.

"You guys took your time," Lily said as she stood up, looking at us suspiciously. "Remus and Rose just went off to say hi to people," Lily pointed to where they'd placed their things. "Did Sirius and Margaret want to sit here?"

At her question we all looked over to where the pair stood arguing. From what I could tell from their gestures, Sirius wanted to sit with us but Margaret wanted to sit with her friends.

"Or not," Lily muttered. We watched as Margaret stormed off in a huff, heading over to the table where her friends sat. Sirius watched for a moment then came over to us, a glare on his hansom face.

_Shut up,_ I thought to myself.

"Margaret wants to sit with her friends," Sirius growled. I shifted uncomfortably as I realised that he had directed his comment at me, a fact noticed by everyone else at the table, including Remus and Rose, who had just returned.

"Fair enough mate," James said, also frowning. "She is your date."

Sirius shrugged and left, disappearing into the crowds.

"Here you go, milady," James joked, offering me a seat next to Lily. I bit my lip but didn't take the chair. It was obvious to me, and most probably everyone else at the table, that James was trying to help me and Sirius, whether I wanted it or not, so I guess it would be only fair if I attempted to help him.

"Mind if I sit here instead?" I asked, gesturing to the chair next to me.

He blinked and Lily glared at me. She'd caught onto what I was doing faster than I thought she would.

"Oh, but Amalia, I wanted to talk to you about some… things tonight," Lily wheedled.

I smiled at her and she smiled back, relieved. The smile disappeared, though, when I grabbed the other chair instead. She glared at me again and flung herself into her chair, crossing her arms across her chest.

James stood for a moment, looking at the both of us, confused as to what was happening, but he grinned happily when he realised just where he'd be sitting for the night. He all but jumped into the chair and looked around the room happily. Rose and Remus had also been watching, smiling in a big brother and sister way.

"Hey, mind if we sit here with you?"

The six of us turned and looked at the new arrivals, and stared in shock, unable to believe what it was we were seeing.

"Meggin?" I asked.

"Peter?" James asked at the same time.

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"S-sure," I stammered.

Meg grabbed Peter's arm and shoved him into the chair next to me, while she took the chair next to Remus.

"Uhh…" Lily said.

"Peter, why didn't you tell us?" James asked.

Before Peter could answer I jumped in.

"Meg, Peter? I'm sorry, but I didn't expect this."

"Oh, well you remember that Muggle I told you about?" Meg asked. "Well, I wanted to go to the ball, but I didn't want to go-go with someone, because I already have someone, so when I was talking to Peter the other day, and he mentioned he wasn't going with anyone, I asked him to go with me. He isn't expecting anything, so it'll be a clean fun night. So here we are… Isn't he such a little sweetie though?"

Meg grinned cheerfully, oblivious to the slightly confused looks on everyone's faces. I glanced at Peter and failed to see what was so sweet about him. His nose seemed to be twitching and he was staring at the Easter eggs floating above us in a slightly creepy way.

"All to their own," James muttered.

"When do we get to eat?" Peter asked, still looking at the Easter eggs. "I'm hungry."

"When everyone's seated," Lily told him.

I took a quick look around and saw that while most people were seated, a few people here and there still trying to find a place to sit. I could also see Sirius sitting on the far side of the room, glaring down at his plate. My stomach rumbled, and I was reminded that I'd hadn't eaten anything today. I silently joined in with Peter's wish for dinner to hurry up.

"Welcome!"

The room fell silent and everyone turned to look up at the teachers table. Professor Dumbledore had stood up, waiting patiently as the last few murmurs drifted away.

"Welcome to the first ever Hogwarts Easter Ball! Before we get down to business, I'd like to send out a brief, but big, thankyou to all the Prefects and students who helped with putting this special occasion together, with or without the use of magic. Now, with that out the way, dig in and I hope that everyone will enjoy the evening, including the surprise at the end."

I didn't need any further prodding and quickly turned back to the table. I wasn't the least bit shocked when I saw that the table had already filled with food. So much food, in fact, that it was nearly overflowing.

I grinned at James happily as everyone filled their plated up and dug in. For the first helpings no one spoke, concentrating instead on getting as much food into our stomaches as possible. Eventually, when I'd finished my second helpings and decided that I better stop if I wanted to fit some dessert in later, and the others had either also stopped or were onto their thirds, conversation began to flow around the table. Remus, Rose and Adam, Lily's date, were having a heated discussion about the Charms exam coming up, and whether or not Professor Flitwick will include certain spells in the practical side or not. Meggin and Peter were each off in their own little worlds, neither talking but both seemed comfortable sitting with each other, while James and Lily talked awkwardly together.

An hour later, dessert was just finishing up and I'd made a vow to never eat that much food ever again. Couples were already beginning to spill over to the dance floor, and I could even see a few teachers leading the charge, dancing to the music of some new wizarding band that I was unfamiliar with.

"Let's dance," Meggin said happily, grabbing Peter's hand before he could protest and dragging him onto the dance floor, disappearing into the growing crowds.

"Remus?" Rose said, looking excited.

Remus sighed but smiled when he saw the excited look on her face.

"Sure, why not?"

_Two couples down, two to go,_ I thought. But I'd decided long ago that I'd never dance in public again, after that incident back in primary school… no, it'll never happen. If James wants to he'll just have to live with the disappointment, or go find another partner.

I glanced at the crowds on the dance floor. The fast song had just finished, replaced with a slower, calmer song, and couples were getting closer.

I froze in my seat when I saw two familiar figures, dancing towards the edge of the crowd. Sirius and Margaret. Neither one looked happy; they appeared to be arguing again, but about what I couldn't tell. I watched them dance for a moment longer, trying to ignore the pains in my stomach.

_It's your own fault,_ the annoying voice inside my head said. _If you'd acted earlier, been a bit more trusting, confident, then that would be you out there on the dance floor, dancing with him, not watching from the sidelines._

I bit my lip and looked away, but found that I couldn't look away for long. They'd stopped arguing and seemed to have formed some sort of truce, for the moment. They'd also moved closer, if only slightly, but enough for my stomach to clench unpleasantly again.

"Lily, did you want to dance?" I heard Adam ask.

"Sure," Lily said softly, almost reluctantly.

I tore my gaze away from the figures of Sirius and Margaret in time to see Lily and Adam disappear into the crowd and the pained look on James' face. I didn't say anything, just patted his hand sympathetically. I knew _exactly_ how he felt.

"I'll be back in a second," James muttered.

I looked back to where I'd last seen Sirius and Margaret, frowning when I didn't see them anywhere.

"Aren't you going to join in?" Sirius asked as he sat in Peter's vacated chair, appearing out of nowhere.

I stared at him, startled, and tried to shake off the sense of deja-vu I'd gotten when he'd said that.

_Well at least I didn't have to look like an idiot trying to find him_, I thought briefly. I glanced over his shoulder and saw Margaret sitting alone at her table, glaring in our direction. I focused back on Sirius, and answered his question.

"Wasn't planning to."

"Why not?" He asked, sounding curious. He looked directly at me and I twisted my napkin nervously in my lap.

"I don't do dancing, I'm afraid."

"Because you can't? Or because you don't like to?"

"Both," I told him with a slight grin.

"Well, things change," he said, grinning at me and grabbing my hand. I immediately tensed up.

"What are you doing?" I asked, alarmed, as he dragged me up and towards where everyone was dancing.

"I'm going to teach you to dance. You see, it's all about having a competent dancing partner."

"No," I snapped, trying to get my hand back and go back to the table.

"Yes." He grinned. "Prongs, you mind if I steal your date?"

James, who had returned sometime during our conversation, tore his eyes away from were he was watching Lily dance with her date and grinned at us.

"Not at all mate. Have fun you two." He waved at us and I glared at him, annoyed. I was his date; he was supposed to save me! I focused back on Sirius.

"No, look, I can't dance… at all! I'm more likely to break your toes… I'll embarrass you, humiliate you… You don't want to be seen dancing with me, I can promise you that."

I was fighting a losing battle as he just dragged me closer to the dance floor. I could feel a flight sense of panic building up inside me as I watched the couples on the dance floor, moving to the fast beat of the current song.

"Okay," Sirius said. We'd arrived at the dance floor and he'd threaded his way to the very middle. "Just follow my lead."

I tried, I really did, and I felt proud when, after half and hour of dancing I'd only stepped on his feet nine times. Thankfully, though, he didn't seem to mind, patiently teaching me the art of dancing.

"See, it's not that bad," Sirius said, raising his voice to get over the thud thud of the music.

"No… but I'm never going to do it again, no matter how much you pay me." I grinned at him.

In reality, while he had taught me some 'moves', I'd spent most of the time mimicking him. If he did a twirl, I did a twirl. His moves got more outrageous once he realised what I was doing, and soon we were doing less dancing and more laughing.

I tensed up when the music began to change. Every time the music changed I found myself tensing up, worried that the next song would be a slow one; what would I do then? Would I get off the dance floor or continue dancing with him? And if I did continue dancing with him, could I handle dancing close to him, as we were bound to do.

Unfortunately it seemed my luck had run out and we were finally greeted with the beginnings of a slow song. I looked at him nervously, unsure about what to do. He answered my unasked question by pulling me closer and putting both arms around my waist, like he was hugging me.

"Look, the songs changing," he said softly, pulling me closer until we were completely pressed against each other. "A slow song is much better to learn to dance with, wouldn't you say?"

I nodded and stood there tensely, barely even moving.

I felt him sigh, the rush of air blowing my hair lightly.

"Relax," he murmured.

I glanced at the couples around us, to get an idea of how I should stand. Most of them had their heads on their partners' shoulders, also barely moving, and their eyes closed.

I bit my lip and moved my hands into a more comfortable position, putting them around his shoulders. I moved my head slightly so that it was resting lightly on his chest.

"See, much better," he whispered.

He began moving in slow circles, moving to the music, and I felt myself fall into his rhythm.

We stayed this was for the duration of the song, and even for the start of the next song. I found that I didn't want to move away, but the faster pace of the next song ruined the moment.

I stepped back from him and looked up at him. In some sort of unspoken agreement Sirius led the way back to my table, neither of us saying anything.

We sat down next to James. Lily was back, her partner nowhere to be seen, and both had hurt looks on their faces, neither speaking.

"James…" Lily said after a moment. "I… I'd like to dance if the offer's still there."

James looked at her, and gave a small nod.

I turned to look at the twirling couples on the dance floor. James and Lily, Remus and Rose. At one point I could see Michael with someone I assumed to be his date and Margaret with some seventh year I vaguely recognised. I focused back on James and Lily, standing close together, neither saying anything and both looking off in opposite directions. For some reason I felt sad, watching them. It seems the feeling I had earlier had been correct. Now all I had to do is wait for her to tell me, but hopefully she won't be too late to do anything about it.

"What's going to happen to them two?" I asked Sirius.

"I don't know," he replied truthfully, seeming to know who I was talking about.

I absentmindedly grabbed a napkin from the table and waved it in front of my face; it was getting very hot in here. On the spur of the moment decision, I decided that now would be a good time to get some fresh air.

I could feel Sirius gaze on me as I jumped up and threaded my way to the doors, but I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say.

Once outside, I sat down on the ground and leant back against the wall. The night air was cooling my heated skin and I closed my eyes, feeling tired and sad.

I felt someone slid down the wall and sit next to me.

"Hey," Sirius said softly, once again appearing out of nowhere.

"I'm not going to even bother asking how you found me," I said without opening my eyes.

He chuckled softly.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, I just got a bit hot, wanted some fresh air."

"Oh…"

We sat outside for what seemed like hours, neither of us speaking, but eventually the cold began to get to me and I shivered.

"Cold?" He asked.

I nodded but didn't make any move to go back inside.

I jumped slightly when I felt him slide his arms around my waist and pull me against his chest. I felt my cheeks begin to heat up and quickly turned to look across the grounds.

"I've been meaning to thank you," he said, after a moment.

I frowned and twisted around to look at him.

"Thank me? For what?" I asked, confused.

"For my birthday present."

"Oh…" I muttered, settling back against his chest.

"What made you think of that of all things?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know… I mean, I've seen this large dog around the grounds sometimes, and I'm not sure why, but it kinda reminded me of you, so I thought 'well, why not?', and I was sure you'd like it. Plus, we were practicing the _loco-motion­ _charm in class, so I thought, 'hey that'd be cool', to make the dog move…' My voice trailed off. "I take it you like it then?"

"I loved it. I've seen this… dog, around the grounds too, and I always felt like I had some sort of connection to it, weirdly enough."

He gave a bark like shout of laughter and I found myself bouncing against his chest. I couldn't help myself; his laughter was so infectious and I began laughing along with him. Eventually we both quietened down and fell into a comfortable silence.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. I'd been up most of the day, and it was taking its toll. Sirius didn't say anything as I lent my head against the crook between his shoulder and neck. He brought his other arm around and put it around my waist, and I felt the double effect of warmth and being comfortable, enough to pull me down for a light doze.

-----

I have no idea how long I was out, but it couldn't have been that long, because I could hear the faint sound of laughter from inside.

"What's going on?" I mumbled, stretching, but other than that not moving from my spot. The laughter seemed louder, but then again that could have been my imagination.

I felt him chuckle.

"It seems the surprise at the end was an Easter Egg Hunt."

I sat up and twisted around to look at him.

"You're joking right?" I said.

He looked at me curiously and pushed a stray strand of hair out of my face.

"No, why? Can't you hear them?"

"Yeah, but… aw man, we missed out," I grumbled under my breath.

"I don't care; there wasn't anywhere else I'd rather be right now."

I stiffened and looked at his cautiously. _What did he mean by that?_

"I doubt that very much."

"I don't," he said, also sitting up.

"Sure there are other places you'd rather be." I had no idea why I was harping on about this, but something in the way he said it, he meant something and I wasn't sure if I was comfortable knowing what it was. "With your friends, for one."

"Sure, they're important to me, but at the moment there's one thing that comes before them."

I studied him for a moment. He seemed to hinting at something, but it wasn't clear to me yet what.

"Really? What?"

"Well, being with the girl I love, for one thing."

I felt my eyes widen and my heart drop. I jumped up and frantically pulled him up, causing a faint flash of alarm to appear on his face.

"Then what's wrong with you? Why are you out here with me? Get in there," I said, attempting to push him towards the door. "Go find her you idiot."

He started laughing, and no matter how hard I pushed he didn't move an inch.

"I was talking about you."

I stopped pushing and let my arms drop to my sides. I stood there staring at him, not comprehending what he had said.

_Important to me… spending time… girl I love… talking about you… _

"What?" I asked, blankly.

"I… I love you," he said, so softly I had to lean forward to hear him.

I straightened up and stared at him. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"You… you what?"

"I love you," he said slowly, confidently.

I stepped back from him, dumbfounded.

"Sirius… I… You can't… it's… no! You can't know that! It's too soon; we haven't even gone out yet and… No!"

"I've had all year to get to know you, and over half the year to get my head around this. Trust me when I say I know what I'm saying."

I looked at him. Surely he couldn't mean what he'd just said. No! I mustn't get my hopes up over this. I just shook my head, and he stared at me angrily.

"Why don't you believe me?"

I laughed bitterly.

"Why? Because _love_ doesn't exist. Sure, some people may believe they're 'in love' but what happens when you've been married for over twenty years and your partner wakes up one day and says, 'I don't want to be married to you anymore?' What do you do then? You've wasted most of your life on this person, _and it didn't last_! My parents are the perfect example of that."

He looked at me for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face.

"You don't believe in love," he stated.

"I… I don't know," I whispered.

"Well, this does change things, doesn't it?" He paused. "I've had most of the year to think this through, and to watch you, and you know what I think? You're scared, petrified, of putting your trust in someone. I think that you do like me, _love_ me even, but you're scared shitless to admit that. You'll make both our lives miserable because of your lack of trust in people. I've already told you how I feel, and when I say stuff like that I mean every word. It's up to you what you do with it. But know this, I always fight for what I believe in, and I believe that you _love_ me."

I flinched at the word.

"Yes, _love_! Get use to that word, because I'm going to be saying it a whole lot more."

As he turned to leave I could feel panic building up inside me. I looked around frantically; I had no idea what to do.

"You're right," I said softly, wringing my hands.

He stopped in the doorway but didn't turn around.

"About most… all, of it," I continued. "I… my parents split up last year, and I've never had the best relationship with them. They're both already married! So I guess everything I know about relationships I've seen from them, and they're not the best role models."

He turned around slowly and looked at me steadily.

"I am scared," I continued. "Petrified even, to put my trust in somebody; what if I make the wrong decision? Or choose the wrong person? Michael was proof that I don't have very good judgement, though I didn't really like him, thankfully…"

I trailed off again; he was just standing in the doorway, watching me, and I wasn't sure what else to say.

"Well…?"

"You'll just have to trust me," he said softly.

_Trust?_

I studied the ground in front of me, rolling the word around in my head.

_Could I trust him?_ I thought to myself.

_Yes!_ Came the immediate answer. He hadn't given me any reason what-so-ever to not trust him. In fact if I think about everything that's happened this year all hands point to someone I could trust.

I looked back at him, standing there patiently as I worked out my thoughts, his hands in his pockets.

_I do trust him_, I thought. _Possibly even… well yeah, I've even admitted to Lily that I liked him, and if I trust him then I must believe what he says, and if that's so, then that means he must… but do I?_

_Yes! _I blinked and tried to clear my head. _I did lo-ike him._

Still slightly unsure, I bit my lip and fiddled nervously with my dress; I can't even say the word in my head, how in the world am I going to say it out loud.

"I may, possibly, maybe l-lo-_ike_ you, a bit," I muttered eventually.

I glared at him and began to feel slightly defensive when I saw him lean against the doorframe and grin at me, lazily raising one eyebrow.

"Look, I can barely say how much I like you," I snapped, suddenly annoyed. "How do you expect me to tell you how much I love you?"

I gasped and clamped my hand over my mouth, staring at him in shock, but his grin only got bigger as he pushed away from the doorframe and began to walk slowly towards me.

I backed away nervously, not liking the look in his eyes.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

He didn't say anything as he stepped closer and closer.

"Like, _like_, I may, possibly, kinda, maybe _like_ you… not l-l-l… nothing more than that. Not yet at least." None of what I was saying seemed to have any impact on him, other than amusement. "I didn't say I… because I can't. We don't know each other and…"

My voice trailed off as I stared into his eyes.

It felt like we were running a replay of what had happened earlier, before the ball, only this time everything was happening a lot faster than last time, and with some slight differences.

I continued to back away, stopping only when I realised I'd backed myself into the wall. He stopped less than a foot away from me, raising his hands and placing them on either side of my waist. I was effectively trapped.

"Uummm…" I couldn't remember what I was saying.

He began lowering his head towards mine. I froze in place, holding my breath cautiously as he stopped, less than an inch between us. I looked into his eyes, waiting, while they flicked back and forth between mine.

Finally I couldn't take it any longer and, with a flash of confidence, I closed both my eyes and the remaining gap between us. I gasped as my entire body seemed to heat up the second my lips touched his. Without thinking I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed myself as close as I possibly could to him. I was vaguely aware of Sirius moving his arms around my waist and pulling me closer.

I stood on my tip-toes to get better access to his mouth, sliding my hands through his silky hair as I did so. He still had one arm around my waist, while the other had moved up my back to lodge itself in my hair, supporting the back of my head.

Eventually we had to pull apart slightly, gasping for breath, but he didn't remove his arms from around my waist or behind my head, likewise I didn't remove my arms from around his neck.

"Wow," I whispered, my gaze out of focus. I stared at his lips for a moment, remembering how they felt on mine.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly as he lifted his head, his voice harsh from lack of oxygen.

I didn't say anything at first, one because I was trying to catch my breath and two because my thoughts seemed to have gone on vacation for the moment. After a second I manage to gasp out:

"I could really go for some mint ice cream."

-----

**A/N:** And another chapter done! Yay! This isn't then end though (just thought I'd say).

Also, I'm sorry this took so long to get out. I wanted it to be perfect, and long, and while I knew what I wanted to happen in this chapter, it took awhile to get it to sound right. And it is long, fifteen whole pages!!! Woohoo! And I thought it was pretty darn close to how I wanted it to go. So yeah, please tell me what you thought of it, I hope you liked it!

Thank you everyone who reviewed the previous chapter!

Bye!


	21. Revelations

**Fading Memories**

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own anything here but the plot and Amalia.

**A/N: **Yay! An update! No excuses from me: I've been lazy and lacking in inspiration.

--

**Chapter Twenty-One: **Revelations

Harry blinked and lifted his head slowly. He felt as though he'd just woken from the most vivid dream of his life, leaving him feeling groggy and dazed, unable to handle any sharp or sudden movements.

For a moment he wasn't sure what had happened to leave him feeling this way, or why the room was dead silent.

He looked at Sirius, who was staring into the flickering flames in the fireplace, off in his own little world. Harry realised it was only because Sirius had stopped talking that he'd been released from the charm that they'd been placed under; his story.

He was startled to realise that the room had filled up to full capacity sometime during Sirius' story. At the beginning it had just been Remus, Hermione, Ron and himself, but now it seemed the entire Weasley family was there, and nearly every Order member. They all wore the same dazed expression Harry assumed he was currently wearing.

Harry also spotted Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall, seated near the door, both watching Sirius with sad looks on their faces. Harry realised that they would have known Amalia when she went to school and possibly even after school, if she chose to join the Order of the Phoenix. Harry sought out, and found, Professor Moody, also an original member, watching with a closed expression on his face.

The silence in the room was so deep and intense that Harry was almost scared to break it. On top of that Sirius wore such a peaceful expression on his face, a stark contrast to what he'd looked like at the beginning of the story, that Harry was tempted to leave him to his memories and find out the rest later. It seemed Fred wasn't as patient.

"So… what happened next? You two were married right? Where is she now?"

Sirius seemed to be jerked back to reality and he stared at Fred as though seeing him for the first time. He glanced around the room, also seeming surprised by the amount of people in the room, listening to his story.

Fred's question seemed to open the floodgates. Questions poured out from all around, coming so fast that they blurred into each other, making it hard for Sirius to answer anyone's questions.

"… is she…"

"When did you…"

"What happened after…"

"Can you…"

"… ever will…"

"Surely…"

"I don't believe…"

"… but why would…"

"Oh Sirius…"

Sirius smiled ruefully and stood up, raising his hands in a gesture to calm everyone down.

"Okay, one question at a time."

Everyone paused, not sure what question to ask or who should go first. Sirius used the momentary silence to answer Fred's original questions.

"Yes, we were, are, married. I don't know where she is now though…"

Sirius' voice trailed off and he frowned thoughtfully.

"Shall I continue where I left off?" He asked everyone eventually. "Hopefully it will explain everything."

He sat back down, pausing briefly to gather his thoughts.

"We started dating at the end of sixth year, as you now know. Thinking back on everything now, it seems almost too good to be true. Even then, I had constant doubts running through my head. I couldn't stop asking myself questions like, 'how did I, Sirius Black, bad boy, prankster extraordinaire, son of a bunch of pureblood fanatics, have the luck to get someone like her, a muggleborn'. The height difference alone could have worked against us. I still believe that I must have done something to please someone up there to end up with someone who balanced me perfectly. Where I was tall, she was short. Where I had a tendency to get angry easily, she took forever to anger, no matter what."

"Apart from a few spats here and there everything seemed to run quite smoothly. I got my own apartment during the holidays between sixth and seventh year and she helped me move in. She even convinced her brother to let her stay over a couple of times." Sirius laughed. "On the condition that she got her own bed, anyway. We got through seventh year unscathed, and I was even told by many that I'd 'matured' slightly, though definitely not as much as James did," Sirius looked meaningfully at Harry. "After school we moved in together into my apartment, mainly because during the year her brother had become serious about a girl he'd met and she wanted to give them both some space. At that point everything was going along fine."

"It was just after we'd joined the Order that everything began to go downhill, though neither of us knew it at the time. It started when I first began getting these weird feelings that I couldn't quite name. When she'd first moved in she'd had a blast organising the place and picking everything out to go in there, and of course dragging me along for the ride. Shopping for furniture, knick-knacks, paint for the walls; she wanted to do everything the muggle way, and of course if she couldn't do something, which was nearly all the time, she'd make me do it, _the muggle _way. I had balked at anything that required me to do what I saw as 'husbandy' stuff, and hadn't been very helpful."

"One particular moment that has always stuck out for me was when we were painting the apartment. She had me looking at so many colours that I began having dreams full of them. 'What colour should we paint the kitchen?' she's ask one day. The next it's 'what colour should the bedroom be?' I can't remember how many times I'd walk into a room and find her staring at the walls, colour charts in her hands. Colours like _buff, zinnwaldite, carmine, flax, _and_ khaki_. They're not colours!"

-- --

_Amalia's POV – 1978 - Painting the apartment_

I stood over Sirius' sleeping form. Normally I would have been quite happy to just watch him sleep, but today I was on a mission, and of course every mission needs a partner.

"Sirius," I said softly, nudging him slightly.

Nothing. No response what-so-ever.

"Sirius," I said a bit more forcefully.

Still nothing, unless you count the slight lolling of his head from my push.

"Oi Black!" I snapped, shoving him with enough force he fell off the bed.

"Argh!" He yelled, jumping up, his hand automatically reaching for his wand, his bleary eyes searching the room for the intruder. Not seeing one he lowered his empty hand and turned to stare at me…

And kept staring at me.

I grinned at him cheerfully.

"Great! You're up! You can help me now," I said, ignoring the look on his face.

"Amalia…" He growled

"Get dressed and we'll leave in five minutes," I continued, leaving the room to finish cleaning the dishes.

Four minutes and thirty seconds later Sirius appeared in the bedroom doorway, dressed and looking much more awake.

"Where are we going?" He asked, looking resigned.

I stifled a laugh at the long suffering look on his face and grabbed his hand, leading him along the sidewalk.

"The paint store," I told him.

"The… _paint_ store?"

"Yep."

"Why?" He asked bluntly, pulling me to a stop.

"To paint the walls," I told him, as though it was the most obvious reason in the world.

"Then why don't you just use magic?"

"Because that's boring. To paint anything, you have to do it the muggle way or no way at all."

He didn't seem to understand my logic but didn't bother arguing with me as I pulled him along the street again.

--

"Hrm," I muttered as we walked along.

Sirius rolled his eyes as my blatant attempt to get his attention.

"Yes?" He asked, laughing.

"What sort of colours should we go for? Plain colours are just… plain! But they'd be easier to match to the furniture. Or should we go for brighter colours, which could hinder which furniture we buy later, but Mr. Sillences said no bright colours so…"

"Up to you," Sirius said.

"How about browns? Or maybe pastel colours? Pastel colours would be nice…" My voice trailed off and I jumped forward excitedly. I wasn't sure why exactly I was so excited about this 'adventure'. Maybe it was because it went quite well with the 'list'. That 'list' being the things you do when you move into a new apartment with your boyfriend. Stuff like buying furniture that you '_really really need, but probably won't ever use_', making sure everything matched. And I was finding that I liked doing a lot of what went on that list.

The idea for our current trip had come to me suddenly this morning. I'd been thinking about painting the walls for awhile now, and had begun getting bored with just looking at samples of colours. I'd woken up that morning and it had just hit me; '_we're going to start painting the walls today!_' I wasn't sure if Sirius would go with me on this, but so far he seemed happy to humour me. It had taken much longer to convince the owner of the building to let me do this' I'd spent twenty minutes just knocking on his front door. In the end he had only placed some restrictions on what I did ('_you may not use any dark colours, or colours that are too bright_' he'd told me finally) more to get rid of me than anything else I think.

Reaching the paint store, I hurried over to the wall covered in pastel coloured paints. There were so many to choose from, I didn't know where to start.

"Celadon looks nice," I told Sirius. "Dark salmon too. Lavender pink is pretty. No! Lavender rose! And light blue! How about moss green? Old rose looks kinda cool. Pastel green and pastel pink would be okay. I wouldn't mind tea rose either…"

My voice trailed off again. There were so many colours to choose from. I told Sirius as much.

"Well, why not go for colours that you think will look good together? Something we can make to match the furniture we have already."

"Okay, okay…"

I stared at the wall before me thoughtfully, going over each colour in my head and pairing it up with other colours.

"Well… we wouldn't want the apartment to look too 'girly', so we'll stay away from pinks. How about one colour and match it up with a softer, plainer colour?"

"Sounds good to me," Sirius said truthfully.

I turned to grin at him, happy that he was actually participating in this, until I saw the slightly vacant, blank expression on his face. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. He blinked and the look was gone. He grinned at me ruefully.

"Sorry," he said, giving me a slightly puppy dog look when I didn't look like I was about to relent. He knows I'm a sucker for that look.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the wall of paints.

"Okay how about peach for the plain colour, because it's not too dark but not so light we can't see it, and pale cornflower blue? Or maybe pastel green? Persian green would be nice, but it's a bit dark. Okay, let's try out peach and pale cornflower blue!"

--

I stared dejectedly at the wall before me. The floors and furniture throughout the house were completely covered in old sheets and so far there seemed to be more paint on these sheets than on the wall. So far none of the paints that we got from the paint store were looking good. Nothing was jumping out at me shouting 'yes, I'm perfect, pick me!' The only colour that had stayed constant was the peach we'd first gotten. I'd sent Sirius back to the paint store so often he claimed he was on a first name basis with the manager there. On the plus side, we were actually now getting discounts.

I'd been at this for over a week now and we'd tried nearly every pastel colour the store had. I was beginning to find my excitement thinning and disappearing. Sirius was also annoyed and I could barely get anything more than grunts from him lately.

I sighed and sat down on what I assumed was the couch. It was nearly nine in the evening and I couldn't find the energy to open _another_ paint tin. Sirius had gone out earlier with James, Remus and Peter for a 'guys night' so I was on my own tonight.

I sighed and shoved myself up and off the couch, heading for the bedroom. There wasn't a whole lot I could do tonight so I figured I could get an early night

--

"Shhhh, quiet down."

"I _am _being quiet."

"Would _both _of you shut up already."

"It wasn't me, Moony, it's…"

"Look, if we're going to get this done we're going to have to move faster and _quieter_."

I blinked and looked around groggily, struggling to move into a sitting position. I glanced at the bright clock on the bedside cupboard and saw that it was just past two am.

I groaned and flopped back on the bed, running my hands over my face to force myself awake. _What the hell was Sirius doing out there, and why are the others here as well?_

I rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the door, opening it a crack to peer outside. At first I didn't see anything, the light from the kitchen blinding me briefly. I squinted and waited patiently for my eyes to adjust to the light. When it finally did I almost didn't believe what I was seeing. I could see Sirius, Remus and James and they were… painting! On a second look though, it seemed they were worse than me with painting; they had almost as much paint on themselves then on the wall.

"Why are we doing this the muggle way?" James complained loudly.

Sirius sighed; the sigh of someone who's had to explain something more times than they can count on both hands.

"Because Amalia wants this to be done the muggle way."

"Well, yes, but she's not here at the moment is she? She wouldn't know the difference."

"You don't know Amalia," Sirius muttered.

I stifled a giggle and settled against the doorframe. The painting continued uninterrupted for another couple of minutes and they finished the second to last wall in what we called the kitchen/dining room/sitting room. Sirius stepped back to study their work, seeming to be quite pleased at the result. Remus and James joined him in looking at their handiwork. Even I had to admit they did a pretty good job, and the colour they used on the wall looked very good with the peach on the ceiling and the cornice's. By the looks of things Sirius had gone back one last time and picked up the pastel green I'd seen on the first day, and the result was that the room looked great.

-- --

"Anyway," Sirius continues. "It was just after we'd finished with _that _particular experience that I began to take notice of the weird feelings I'd been having. We'd gone shopping for her birthday. She'd gone off somewhere and I was browsing around a jewellery store when I saw what I considered to be the perfect birthday present. I asked the store clerk about it and lo-and-behold, found out it was an engagement ring. It was the fact that I didn't immediately bolt from the store that was the first clue that something was up. The second clue was that for the next two weeks I considered buying it. The last clue was the fact that I went out and brought it, the day before her birthday; though I didn't give it to her for her birthday."

"All this surprised me because I'd never seem myself as the 'get married straight out of school' type of bloke. In fact, I'd never even seen myself as the 'get married _ever'_ kind of bloke. This freaked me out for awhile and caused me to be short with everyone while I thought about this new development. My abruptness was the cause of more fights than I can count."

"It took me a few months before I could work up the courage to propose, but I eventually did and before either of us knew it we were both thrown into the whirlwind of planning our wedding, which let me tell you was _not _easy. We were married on the 12th of December, 1978."

--

**A/N:** One of the reasons I haven't updated for so long is because I really had no motivation or excitement to do this, and I wasn't entirely happy with the chapter (it isn't exactly how I saw it going) but here ya go! I know this probably isn't what you expected either, but I hope it passes.

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter!

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter.

Next up: **Preparations and a Wedding!**


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